Sutra & Sita adhyakshas

I am committed to blogging artha SAstra. Due to other writing engagements there has been a slight delay of posting to this blog, but my study of the sastra is on-going.

 

In the last post we have seen the duties of tax officers. This post covers next two officers.

 

1. Superintendent of yarns and textiles (chapter 23 of Book 2 of artha SAstra)

2. Director of agriculture (chapter 24 of Book 2 of artha SAstra)

 

sUtrAdhyaksha - is responsible for overseeing the production, trading of yarn and textile produce made from various materials like cotton, wool, jute, silk etc.,

Here cANakya states that the work like weaving can be done by women as a cottage industry or in individual houses. The raw material can be delivered to the individuals who are having ability to do the work at their home. The work force includes young and old women and also includes those who are challenged. This shows the "inclusion" and "equal opportunity" aspects of cANakya's state craft. The concepts of "working from home" are also introduced by cANakya.

The idea is to include and give opportunity to be a part of production and value addition to the society in which one lives. Thereby earning a decent livelihood gives self respect to one and all.

As cANakya includes the women work force in the textile industry, he also gives necessary precautions to avoid any type of "sexual harassment" by male supervisors to women workers. He states the punishments to the women who would exploit the weakness of the male co-workers.

Along with the textiles and silk garments, the sUtrAdhyaksha is also responsible for making strong ropes etc., used during warfare and industrial uses.

sItAdhyakshaH - is responsible for the agriculture within the territory.

He is responsible for collecting good quality seeds for different types of crops that are suitable for different types of lands that exist within the territory.

Lands are differentiated by their average rain fall and other qualities of those lands. A good emphasis has been given on knowing the right times to start different crops based on astronomy like the position of Jupiter, Venus, moon and Sun with respective to the weather determination.

"sUryAt bIja siddhiH, bRhaspatE sasyAnAm stambakaritA, Sukra vRshTiH iti"

By the means of sUrya (sun) we can predict the germination and growth of seeds, by the Jupiter we can predict harvest, and by Venus we can predict the rain fall.

There are techniques to store the seeds, providing natural protection from different infections to the crops etc., in this adhyaya.

There is a mantra (a sound packed with power) given that is to be used when planting any seeds to provide good results.
प्रजापतये काश्यपाय देवाय नमः सदा
सीता मे ऋध्यतां देवी बीजेषु च धनेषु च​

prajApatayE kASyapAya dEvAya namaH sadA
sItA mE RdhyatAM dEvI bIjEshu ca dhanEshu ca

Our salutations to kASyapa the creator of everything, the god of (rain). Let the seeds and money grow which is placed on the mother sItA (ploughed land) always!

One should carefully bring all the produce from the field to the kOshTAgAra even not leaving the dry grass on the field as all produce has its value.

With this advice, cANakya closes the chapter 24 of book 2.