INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

12 TRADITIONAL AND
his kingdom under the controller of the markets.
Orders were given for arresting the head
carriers, and for bringing them in chains before
the controller of the markets, wha wa..'l directed
to detain them until they had agreed upon one
common course of action, and gave bail for each
other. Nor were they to be released until they
brought their wives and children, beasts of burden
and cattle, and all their. property, and fixed
their abodes in the villages along the banks of
the J umna. An overseer was to be placed over
the carriers and their families on behalf of the
controller of the markets, to whom the carriers
were to submit. Until all this was done, the
chiefs were to be kept in chains. Under the
operation of this role, so much grain found its
way into the markets that it was unnecessary
to open the royal stores, and grain did not rise
a dang above the standard."
Three more regulations were provided for the
supply of corn, the result of the whole of which
is thus described by the chronicler: "All the
wise men of the age were astonished at the
evenness of the price of the markets. If the
rains had fallen (regularly), and the seasons had