Some Notes on Ownership of the Soil in Ancient India
Summary
Responding to critics of his Agrarian System of Ancient India, U.N. Ghoshal uses this note to clarify his position on the nature of land ownership in ancient Indian society. He reiterates that while kings exercised certain regalian rights—such as tax collection, seizure of escheated property and the granting of waste land—these did not amount to ultimate ownership of all land. Instead, private and collective property rights existed alongside royal prerogatives. Ghoshal argues that the Permanent Settlement analogy is misleading and emphasises that literary sources and inscriptions show peasants and communities holding hereditary rights. He also contends that it is inappropriate to extrapolate land tenure systems from isolated passages in the Arthaśāstra without corroborating evidence. The note closes by urging scholars to distinguish between ownership and sovereignty when analysing ancient agrarian relations.
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Conclusion
Ghoshal reinforces his thesis that ancient Indian kings were not owners but guardians of the land, exercising certain fiscal and administrative rights without negating private property. The clarification aims to correct misconceptions and encourage nuanced interpretations of agrarian texts.