Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/635

A OBIO ULT UP. AL 0110ANISA TIOl? in the period of the Big Veda as will be ?een from the practice of in.naive c?ure of ?he ?il. There ?m?g a conginuous reference ? fields and ?t?rs in the whole of the ? Veda, showing ?e? ??t im??nce of ?iculmr? Various words ?'o ?en used for the fields or c?tivatod land? for w? l?d ?d ploughland. We sh?l ?ko thom up ? ?m ?d study the conditions of ?io?tur? of ?e ?a? of the ?o. The word ur?r? occurs repeatedly in the Veda' in ihe sense of fertile l?nd or ploughland. fm?iqui?y of ?his word may be ?r?eod. ?o ih?t period in the history of the Aryans when they had not separated in different directions.' In Greek the ?ame word, practically in the same form, occurs for the same idea. Arou?a stands there for what urnat&t means in the Rig Veda? So that philology would establish unequivocally the origin of cultivation o! fertile lands, however crudely it might have been, in that distant A?iatic home of the Aryans. UYp?ra in the Rig Veda means the land which is acquired for purposes of cultivation. But whatever is acquired for culti- vation may not be equally suitable for the purpose; some naturally would pay for their cultivation, while others would not, so there must be the distinction between fertile land and waste fields. In the Rig Veda apn?vati means fertile, whereas artan? means waste fields (i, 127, 6). There is some uncertainty as to whether these are sub-divisions of ,?rvara lands or whether urvara should be identified with apn?vati. Whatever that might have been the point for us is that the people made the distinction, even in nomen- clature, between oulturable lauds and waste hinds. t i, 197, 8; iv, 41, 8; v, 88, 4; vl, 38, 4; z, SO, 8; s, 149, 8. ?! Rig The e?rly