In the 6th-3rd centuries BC, agriculture, crafts and commerce developed on an unprecedented scale. The increase in food production and the marked increase in population have further increased the need for land reclamation and increased food production.
The king established villages in his original residence or in new districts, and expanded his influence through immigrants from his own country or other countries. By the time of Emperor Ashoka, the country's plantation industry had developed on a larger scale, and even the conquest of Kalinga and the sending of prisoners of war to the newly reclaimed areas as slaves.
Like other ancient dynasties, the Mauryan Empire was also based on agriculture, and the rulers attached great importance to agricultural production. The development of agriculture provided a rich material base for the empire, and the government built many granaries for the storage of grain.
These warehouses are divided into treasure vaults, food warehouses and goods warehouses, and are built at important road intersections to provide access to items in case of emergencies or in the event of damage to vehicles.
At that time, villages could be divided into two types: ordinary villages and new villages, and their structures differed.
Most of the ordinary villages are clustered, and the villages are usually equipped with threshing floors, village temples and irrigation facilities. To protect against the invasion of enemies and wild animals, villages are often surrounded by fences, and outside the fence are farmland, pastures and forests.
The boundaries of villages are usually marked by natural or artefacts. When there is a border dispute between a village, it is common to gather people from five to ten nearby villages, and an elder or someone familiar with the marker wears a special garment to indicate the location of the marker.
The main rulers of the village are the village leader and the village elder. The main responsibility of the village head is to maintain law and order in the village and handle daily affairs. When the head of the village discovers that someone has crossed the border without permission, they will charge a fine of 15 panas for every Jegana according to the distance.
The head of the village has the right to expel thieves, criminals and adulterers from the village. The duties of the village elders are to maintain the traditional Xi and order of the village society and to resolve issues such as land disputes.
The main people who are engaged in farming in the villages are Vaishyas and Shudras. They usually cultivate the land themselves, and if they have land and do not cultivate it, they will be fined, and the amount of the fine will go to the whole village.
With the increase of population and the development of cultivation in the newly cultivated areas, many new villages began to appear in the newly cultivated areas. These new villages are more planned than the existing ones.
Each village usually has between 100 and 500 households, and the distance between villages is 1-2 krosa. When villages are threatened from the outside or other unexpected situations occur, villages can protect each other.
The boundaries of villages are mainly divided by natural markers, such as rivers, hills, forests, ditches, ponds, tweezers, trees, caves, etc. These villages are strictly organized, with 10 villages as a township, 200 villages as a county, 400 villages as a province, and 800 villages as a large district. Administratively also known as "Stania", each of which is a political, cultural and trade centre.
In the new reclamation area, most of the people engaged in agriculture were Shudras. They moved here from other places, reclaimed the wasteland, and settled here. When they first arrived, the state provided them with food, livestock, and land, wood, and tools for the construction of irrigation facilities, crematoriums, gardens, and houses.
In addition, they have the right to be exempt from paying taxes for a certain period of time. If the cultivator works hard, after a generation, the land will be his own. If they are lazy or refuse to pay taxes, the land will be repossessed and the cultivator will be compensated according to the size of the loss on the land.
The recovered land could be distributed to other farmers for cultivation or given to village employees and merchants for cultivation. Irrigation facilities are owned by all villagers, and when a village builds a reservoir or irrigation canal, all villagers are required to participate, and if there are villagers who cannot participate, they must provide cattle or corresponding expenses. Resources such as fish, water birds, and aquatic plants in the irrigation facilities belonged to the king.
In the village, the status of the elderly is very important. They are primarily responsible for the custody of property belonging to minors or gods, and play a key role in maintaining the moral order of the village. Heavy fines are imposed on those who do not support the elderly.
Despite the prevalence of Buddhism at the time, villagers were not allowed to become monks freely. Even those who are incapacitated must be allowed to become monks. This may be due to the fact that the state attaches great importance to agricultural production and must ensure the demand for labor.
In order not to affect agricultural production and social order in the village, practitioners of sects and non-local groups, members of commercial guilds, etc., were forbidden to enter the village. It also stipulates that activities such as singing, dancing, and singing poetry must not harm the normal order of the villagers' lives.
Although the Mauryan Empire was a powerful centralized empire, its dominance over the local areas was relatively weak. The influence of the empire did not penetrate into the village society, and each village remained essentially a small community of economic self-sufficiency and political autonomy.
The Mauryan Empire was built on the basis of these small communities. According to Emperor Ashoka's edict, he visited the elders of various places during his reign and gave them monetary rewards. This shows the tolerance and importance that the national government attaches to local power. However, the village society is not completely closed, it has various connections with the outside world.
In addition, there are various links between the village and the government. The Mauryan Empire maintained a huge bureaucracy and army, which required huge administrative and military expenditures, and this heavy burden was naturally borne by the peasants living in the villages.
Villages are required to pay various forms of taxes to the state. Not only did the state set up officials to oversee and manage the villages, but it also appeared to have established an extensive network of spies in the village society.
The Mauryan dynasty used a lot of spies and had a well-developed spy network. These spies were not only used for military purposes, but surprisingly, they often disguised themselves as farmers, herdsmen, merchants, students, monks, ascetics, etc., in order to inquire about the land area, agricultural harvests, and family status of the villages, and secretly monitor the movements of the villages and other officials.
Such espionage can only be carried out if the government is strong enough. In addition to the needs of war, the reason why espionage flourished was probably related to the dissatisfaction of the people at the bottom with the harsh rule of the dynasty and the distrust of the central government by local officials.
