The system of land grants and trade from 600 BCE to 600 CE is explained below:

a. The land grants were recorded in inscriptions from the early centuries. They were mostly recorded in copper plates.

b. The land grants were given to religious Institutions or the Brahmanas.

c. The Brahmanas were exempted from paying the land revenue and other dues.

d. In fact, they were given the right to collect it from the local people.

e. Women were not allowed to have independent access to any resources like land. But there were also women like Prabha Vati Gupta, daughter of Chandragupta II who had access to land.

f. All the people in the villages had to obey the new laws and pay all the taxes.

g. According to some historians, land grants indicated the weakening political power as the kings were using control over the Samanthas.

h. The kings tried to win allies by making land grants.

i. The land grants also provided an insight into the relationship between the cultivator and the state.

j. The land and river routes spread across the subcontinent and extended in different directions.

k. The ruler tried to control the routes by offering protection for a price.

l. These rules were used by the peddlers who traveled on foot and the merchants traveled with caravans of bullock carts and pack animals.

m. There also existed seafarers who had risky but highly profitable ventures.

n. The successful merchants were designated as Mannatuvan in Tamil and Sethis and Satavahanas in Prakrit.

o. A variety of goods were transported such as salt, grain, cloth, metal ore, finished product, timber, medicinal plant, stone, spice, and textiles.

p. These were exported from the Arabian Sea to the Mediterranean area.