Village Crafts in Early Medieval India

The general term for village in India is grama, derived from the coot gras(to swallow, or to eat). Sometimes it is derived from the root gam (to go) as well. Although it has come to siginify generally anumber of residential houses clustered together at a place, yet it cannot be denied that it means something more. According to the Markandeya Purana grama is a habitat in the centre of land fit for cultivation. This show that a village must have cultivable land all around it. A large number of land grants also indicate that in addition to the habitat, the area of a village comprised cultivable, uncultivable, high, low, watery, dry, forest and grassy land. According to PV Kane that “grama ordinarily meant a village in the modern sense and included several hundred acres of lands.’’ H.S.Maine points out that an Indian village was divided into three parts like the district of the ancient Teutonic cultivating community in Germany- the village itself which was the cluster of residential houses, the arable mark or the cultivated area, and the common mark of the village waste. Thus a village in India consisted of the inhabited part as well as all kinds of land attached to it.

Village crafts-

Pot-making:

      Our sources refer to some important village crafts, such as pot making, wood work, iron work, oil pressing, weaving, basket-making, milk churning, salt making, paddy pounding,etc. The Harsacharita speaks of servel kinds of water-pot, namely, karkari, sikatilakalasi, alinjara,udkumbhan and a type of plate called sarava used at the drinking inns(prapa) of a sylan village in U.P. The same work mentions water-jars uplifted by the old village elders in honour of the king marching with his army through the countryside in a part of U.P. It again speaks of a ceremonial water-pot with a mango spray on its mouth placed in the courtyard of the house of Bana in village Pritikuta in western Bihar. Govardhanacarya describes the churning of milk and crud in earthen pots. Drona, used as land or corn measure, was also perhaps an earthen vessel. Moreover, poor villagers may have used earthen vessels for boiling  rice, milk, etc; and for storing molasses and grain. Thus a large number of earthen pots were in use in village. Hiuen Tsang clearly states that utensils used in households were mostly earthenware and a few of brass. All these pots for various purpose appear to be the work of village potters, whose chief instrument for moulding pots was a wheel.

Wood-work-

      A large number of wooden articles were also used by the villagers, plough and harrow, mortar and pestle, bullock-cart, and oil press –all were made of wood as now. The Harsacarita refers to wooden frames (kasthamancika) for keeping water-jars at the inns; and the Krsiparasara speaks of a wooden measure called Adhaka for measureing paddy perhaps the sugar-press was also made of wood. All these must have been the work of the village carpenters, who may have also helped the villagers in making bamboo sticks and bows, wooden posts to be fixed at the threshing floor, wooden handles for the spades and sickles, etc, wooden machine or lever for drawing water from wells for irrigating fields, and several other articles of common use. Nowadays villagers in north-eastern India generally use wooden bedstead plaited with strings( carapai or khata). The timber of sala, mango, mahua, jackfruit and palmrya, which were largely grown in north-eastern India, may have been used for all these purposes. Bamboo, khadira, banyan, silk-cotton, udumbara, gambhari, slesmataka, etc, may have been also in common use.

Iron-work-

      Village blacksmiths showed their skill in making agricultural implements of iron, namely, spade, hoe, sickle, axe, plough-share, etc. It is likely that they also made iron-rims and placed them on the wooden wheels of the bullock-carts. The Harascarita, referring to the blacksmiths (vyokara) of forest village, states that they burn piles of wood for getting charcoal, This shows that they used charcoal in their furnace for heating iron. A large number of gahadavala land grants refer to iron pits existing in village. This must have ensured constant supply of iron ores to the blacksmiths.

Paddy- pounding-

      Pounding of paddy with the help of mortar and pestle was very common in village. It seems to have been a supplementary craft practiced by the farmers and agricultural labourers. Yogesvara notes with interest the beauty of the moving arms and tinkling of the bracelets of women engaged in the act of pounding paddy; This shows that paddy-pounding was generally done by women, and that dhemki or dhemkula (pedal for husking grain) as a means of pounding paddy, etc, now much in use in north-eastern India, was not known in the early medieval times.

Parching of grains-

      Frying or parching of grains was also practiced on a considerable scale. Hiuen Tsang tells us that “parched grain with mustard- seed oil” was an item of “common food.’’ This seems to have been the modern muhari or mudi as called in Bengal Peasant Life.

Sattu (grain- powder)-

      Several references of sattu (powdered grain) indicate that barley and gram were also parched. These two varieties of grain, when parched and ground, yield very fine powder while describing the drinking inns of a sylvan village Bana refers to grain-powder consumed perhaps by the travelers and pilgrims. Yogesvara states that apoor housewife is very uneasy on looking at her saktu (sattu)  flooded with water during a heavy downpour;  and Lakhsmidhara speaks of a man who was renounced the pleasure of material life as living on powdered grain obtained as alms.

Milk-churning-

      Churning of milk and curd by women of the herdsman class was another craft. Hiuen Tsang  refers to ghee (clarified butter) as an item of common food, which indicates that it was produced on a large scale. The Bhattikavya speaks of the churning of milk or curd by the cowherd ladies living in the village settlements of eastern uttar Pradesh and states that the movement of the hips and the two sides of the body of the females was quite in tune with the sonorous sound produced during the process of churning, which presented a delightful dance.The Aryasaptasan refers to a churning rod put inside the milk or curd pot. As the herdsman mainly depended on cattle and cattle produce, ghee may have been a source of their income.

Making of cowdung-cakes-

      The making of cowdung-cakes for fuelseems to be highly popular in villages. The Harsacarita refers to the heaps of cowdung-cakes in the households of the inhabitants of the village called Pritikuta. The Aphsad Stone Inscription of Adityasena speaks of cowdung- cakes-fire (karisagni). The Gaudavaho also contains refereces to such cakes and their fire. Yogesvara tells us of the cowdung-cakes- smoke (gomayadhuma) spread over villages in a winter morning; and Abhinanda describes how at the end of the day in winter the villages are enveloped with the smoke emitting out of cowdung-cakes-fire. A verse in the Subhasitaratnakosa points to such a smoky fire, which, in a state of agitation, emits gleam in winter evenings in a village settled, by the cowherds. Thus preparation of fuel out of cowdung may have been an occupation of the cowherds and others.

Wine-brewing-

      Several types of drink were also prepared. The Harsacarita refers to a drink of cocoanut juice(narikelarasasva) used in the srikantha janapada,  and to a variety of wine prepared from mahua flowers (madhukasavamadya) in a sylvan village. A special type of old drink was also prepared by the aboriginal tribes. It may have been very much like the modern hadiya of Chotanagpur or the rice-beer of the modern Nagas of Assam. The AgniPurana speaks of the drinks prepared from the juice of grapes, mahua, date, palmyra and sugarcane. The Krsiparasara refers to beverages enjoyed by the agriculturists on special occasions, but it does not specify the varieties. All this suggests the existence of the profession of brewers and distillers in the rural areas.

Sugar-manufacture-

      Villagers made all varieties of sugar from molasses to candy. Bana states that guda (molasses) and khanda(candied sugar) were presented by the villagers to Harsa in the course of his march. Again, he speaks of the drinking inns of a sylvan village, and of candied sugar kept in the houses of the same village. Hiuen Tsang observes that granulated sugar and sugar- candy were the articles of common food. Winter is best season for preparing sugar in India. As date- juice is available in winter, it is highly suitable for sugar-making.

Basket, mat, broom and cage industry-

      Various types of baskets, which are highly useful in agricultural economy, were made in villages. The Harascarita refers to villagers using karanda and pitaka (baskets) containing curd, moiasses, candied sugar and flowers.Yogesvara speaks of winnowing fan (surpa) and sieve (titau) in his verses on village life. For basket-making bamboo and cane were largely available in the countryside;  but sometimes baskets are also made of date and palm leaves and varieties of grass. The Ramacarita of Sandhyakarnandin testifies to the growth of bamboo in Varendri(North Bengal).  

      Mats were also made in villages. Mats used for drying heaps of kasmarya plants in the same sylvan village. These mats were naturally more lasting than those used as seats and beds. Perhaps straw, grass, date and palm leaves, etc, were the usual materials for making mats.

Brooms or besoms for sweeping are usually made of grass, date-leaves, midribs of palm or cocoanut leaves. As these materials were largely found in the countryside, villagers made brooms as well.

      Cages for keeping birds as pets in the household and for the use of the fowler were also made. The Naisadhiyacarita mentions cages made of nala grass. Perhaps cages were also made of bamboo, whitch was available in all over North Eastern India.

Rope-making-

      Villagers were familiar with rope-making as well. Several types of string were used in the plough. The cultivators or the agricultural labourers used a kind of cord at that time of paddy harvest perhaps to tie the bundle of reaped stalks. Some sort of rope was used for fastening the bullocks to the thrashing-post. The contrivance for drawing water from well for irrigating fields required a rope. The use of string may have been necessary for fencing corn fields and house gardens or for constructing walls of a house as referred to in the Harsacarita.

      As regards materials for making ropes, hemp, munja, kusa, kasa, cocoanut-fruit-fibres, and hair of cows were utilized. The Manasars  mentions the bark of banyan, palmyra and ketaka, and cotton and kunsuka yarn as material for rope making. Nowadays ropes are also made of paddy straw. Such ropes may have been made in the early medieval days when paddy straw was easily available.

Forest crafts-

      Villagers of the forest area knew how to extract honey from bee-hives. Bana refers to the loads of honey and peacock’s tails carried by the residents of a sylvan village. These two special products of the forest may have been valuable articles of trade.

      Bana again speaks of the wood-cutters of forest with axes on their shoulders together with the bullocks, which were meant perhaps for carrying wood. The Brahnavaivarta Purana alludes to bullocks carrying loads on their backs.

Fishing-

      North-eastern India was full of rivers, streams, ditches, and tanks, which abounded in fish. Many Gahadavaia land grants show that villages contained fishing waters (matsyakara) within their bounds. The Monghyr grant of Devapala records the grant of village Mesika in the Krimila visaya of the Srinagara bhukti with the fish within its confines(samatsyah).

      The Krsiparasara states that water used for washing fish should not be thrown or kept at the place where cow reside. This alludes to the taking of fish by the cultivators. Hiuen Tsang tells us that fish was occasionally taken by the people.

Oil-pressing-

      Oil-pressing was also another village craft. The Harsacarita, as already noted, refers to the wood-cutters anointing their bodies with oil. Reference to the taking of parched grain with mustard oil. The Krsiparasara states that on the occasion of the cow- festival oil mixed with turmeric was rubbed on the bodies and horns of cows. Moreover, oil may have been used for cooking vegetables, and burning lamps at night.  All these lead to the inference that oil-pressing was a regular business in the villages.

Weaving-

      Excepting certain sabaras, who either remained naked or used leaves as their dress, all villagers put on some sort of clothes. Hiuen Tsang states that men use a piece of cloth round their loins and women wear a loose garment covering the whole body from the shoulders downwards. The Gaudavaho alludes perhaps todyed clothes worn by village women on festive days. The Krsiparasara mention that the cowherds decorated the chief bull with cloth on the day of the cow-festival, and the cultivators put on new clothes on the occasion of the pusyayatra ritual. All these references to cloth suggest that weaving was carried on in villages. Abundant produce of cotton in the countryside supplied enough material to the village weavers. An Assam land grant clearly refers to weavers living in the villages.

      Weaving was not possible without spinning, which seems to have been largely practiced in villages. Some references to the carding of cotton also testify to spinning pursued by the villagers.