histoy G-10 E

who could help poor farmers.

As the surplus owner described in the above

source was a village leader, there is an important

fact that we should understand. That is , the

major reason that affected him to be a village

leader was that he was economically rich.

There is information in the inscriptions about

the same type of provincial leaders introduced

as ‘Parumaka’ and ‘Batha’. We learnet about

‘Parumakas’ in the third chapter.

The division as rich and poor, which occurs in

the society based on the economic capability

of people, is introduced as the origin of social

stratification. One of the most important

processes that based the origin of cities was this

separation of the society in to strata.

7.2 The First Urbanization

By 450 B.C. the social stratification

of our country had become complete

to a certain extent. Early inscriptions

substantiate that there were a large

number of chieftains who owned

production surplus, spread in the dry

zone by that time. The number of the

persons introduced by the name of

‘Parumaka’ in the inscriptions so far

is numerous. These chieftains had

been organized as families. One of

the strategies that these families used

to show and keep their power and

prestige was using articles imported

from foreign countries. Some articles

such as imported earthenware and

beads have been discovered from

excavations done in the ancient

cities such as Anuradhapura and

lands perhaps could have a harvest which was
hardly enough for a year’s consumption. Those,
who reaped a rich harvest, had an excess of grain
remaining in the granaries after consuming
during the whole year. This remaining grain is
introduced in the special name ‘Athirikthaya’

• surplus. When there is an economic surplus
  in a society and a group of owners of surplus is
  a highly transformative situation. In this way,
  there is an example that shows that there lived
  a surplus owners in the ancient society of this
  country in ‘Jathakaatta Katha’. As it mentions,
  one villager, who didn’t have enough food as he
  had not received the harvest from his seasonal
  crop, borrowed a bag of paddy from the village
  leader on the promise that he would give it back
  on the following season.

Plan no. 7.1. A sketch which displays a plan of the ancient Anuradhapura city.

This story in the ‘Jathkaatta Katha’ is a good clue
that projects the transformation happening in
the ancient society of our country. It gives us an
idea of the villager who became poor due to the
failure of his farming and the surplus owners

Tissamaharama. These things were exchanged as

a result of joining the foreign trade.