Classification Systems: Indian
M. Velayutham
M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, India
D. K. Pal
National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur, India
INTRODUCTION
Soil classification deals with the grouping of soils
according to their suitability to produce plants and
crops of economic importance and their use for
habitation, recreation, and industry. Agriculture was
the mainstay of the people in ancient India and the
agriculturists then were quite conscious of the nature
of soils and its relation to the production of specific
crops of good economic return. According to recorded
information, in ancient India in the period 2500 BC
to 600 AD, a vast knowledge acquired by the then
agriculturists by experience has become tradition, and
the same has been passed on from generation to
generation.[1] However, a major part of this has been
forgotten and thus has become a story of the past.
Experiences transformed into instructions, and these
very intelligently and ably had been molded in the
form of pastoral songs, maxims, and proverbs that
were some sort of guidance to the farmers. In this
way the farmers were trained enough to make a choice
of a particular soil for a specific crop.[2]
SOIL-FERTILITY-BASED CLASSIFICATION
OF SOILS
On the basis of fertility, soils were made into two
classes, urvara (fertile) and anurvara or usara (sterile).
Urvara mrttika (fertile soil) was again subdivided into
different kinds in view of crops such as yava (barley),
tila (sesamum), vrihi (rice), mandiena (mung), etc.
On the other hand, anurvara mrttika (sterile soil)
was subdivided into usara (sand ground) and maru
(desert). In addition, the soils that were irrigated by
river and rainfed were known as nadimatrika and
devamatrika, respectively.[1]
SUITABILITY OF CROPS AND
SOIL CLASSIFICATION
In his Arthasastra (ca. 300 BC), Kautilya mentioned
that soils used to be classified on the basis of suitability
of crops. Lands that used to be beaten by foam, i.e.,
Encyclopedia of Soil Science DOI: 10.1081/E-ESS-120022541
Copyright # 2006 by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Taylor & Francis
banks of rivers, were considered suitable for growing
pumpkin, gourd, and the like. Lands that were fre-
quently overflown with water were considered suitable
for long pepper, grapes, and sugarcane. Lands near
wells were cultivated to vegetables and roots. Low-
lands (most of lakes, etc.) were used for green crops,
and marginal furrows between any rows of crops were
taken as suitable for fragrant plants and medicinal
herbs.
CLIMATE-BASED SOIL CLASSIFICATION
Raychaudhuri[1] indicated that in ancient times Caraka
divided the lands into three classes, namely, Jangala,
Anupa, and Sadharana according to the nature of
the soil and climate.
1. Jangala region means dry places=plants (xero-
phytes).
2. Anupa region means marshy or swampy and
watery plants (littoral or inland). These areas
are thickly overgrown with forests, bowers,
and trees, and flowers encircled by verdant trees
and tender creepers.
3. Sadharana region literally means the ordinary
plants (mesophytes). These regions are endowed
with creepers, plants, and trees of both classes,
i.e., the vanaspati and vanaspatvas.
In the classification and examination of lands as
suggested by Misra Chakrapani[1] in Visva-Vallabha,
land is described as arid, wet (i.e., marshy), and moder-
ate (i.e., neither too dry nor too wet) and is distin-
guished by six tastes through color. It is described
that gray-colored, pale white, black, white, red, and
yellows soils are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent,
and astringent in taste, respectively. It also described
that land that is littered with anthills, pits, and stones
is saline and gravelly, has water at great depth, and
is considered to be poisonous so far as planting of
trees is concerned. In a region where trees and plants
are blighted with frost and in a place littered with
stumps, laying a garden is not advisable.
251
252
Jala-Bhumi: Krishi-Sukti, a comprehensive book on
‘‘agriculture science’’ attributed to Kasyapa (Misra
Chakrapani[1]), classified land into 1) wet lands for
paddy fields named as suli bhumi, jala-bhumi, and
sasya bhumi, and 2) dry lands called adhaka bhumi,
tara bhumi, and usa bhumi.
Land with a mild color like the sapphire or the
plumage of a parrot, or is in the color of conch or
the moon or is bright like molten gold, is considered
as excellent.
REVENUE SYSTEM OF LAND CLASSIFICATION
In ancient India, as in modern times, land revenue was
based on income from land. In other words, the
revenue was rated according to the productivity and
kind of soil.
Manu, the Arthasastra, and the Sukraniti presup-
pose a gradation of land, survey and measurement,
calculation of outturn, as well as expenses per unit of
land. It is indicated in the Arthasastra and the Smrtis
that not only laid stringent rules about leaving a good
producer’s surplus but also a classification of soil on
the basis of fertility. The king’s share did not necessa-
rily mean a fixed share. It was determined on the basis
of soil fertility and by the needs of the State or of the
cultivator. Measurement and survey and the differen-
tiation of soils according to their productivity thus
indicate that land revenue assessment was not perma-
nent, and it used to be revised at times, although a
constant revision was not felt necessary. Megasthenes,
in his travel notes, recorded that Maurya officers were
most likely concerned with the measurement and
supervision of alluvial deposits for revenue purposes.[2]
The review of Raychaudhuri[1] indicates that during
the 16th century in India the land assessment classifica-
tion was based on the suitability of soils for crops. It
also considered other factors such as texture and color
of soils, availability of water, slope of the land, and
yield of crops. Considering all these, in addition to
marketing facilities for the produce, fair estimates of
land values were arrived at. The land that was depen-
dent solely on rainfall was called barani, that watered
by wells was chahi, land irrigated by canal was nahri,
and land moistened by river percolation was sailabi. In
addition, local names of soils that conform closely to
the soil classes were also developed. An example of this
from Chhattisgarh state indicates four classes of soils
like matasi, dorsa, kanhar, and bhata. These soils
are in a catenary sequence, wherein matasi are yellow
soils on the upland or level land with loam to clay loam
and loamy clay in texture and yield good paddy. Dorsa
soils are on the slopes, darker, and with the same
texture as of matasi and yield good paddy. Kanhar
soils are in lowland areas, dark and slightly heavier
Copyright © 2006 by Taylor & Francis
Classification Systems: Indian
than matasi and dorsa, and yield good paddy and
wheat. Bhata soils are barren wastelands on uplands
with gravelly sandy soils and are reddish yellow.
Red soils of Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh are
known as parwa and rakar; the former is a brownish
gray soil with loam to sandy clay loam texture,
whereas the latter is not useful for cultivation.
The red soils of Telangana district of Andhra Pra-
desh are known as chalkas, which are sandy loams
located on highlands and are cultivated for kharif
crops. In Andhra Pradesh the pale brown to brown
soils are known as dubba soils. These soils have low
fertility and suffer severe erosion, and thus are sub-
marginal lands and more suited for pasture and forage
crops. Similarly, in Orissa state, the soils are classified
as at, mal, berna, and bahal according to their topo-
graphic situation. The revenue system of soil classifica-
tion and these local names provide an index of soil
fertility.
Initiatives During the 19th to 20th Century
Raychaudhuri[1] indicated that scientific interest in the
characteristics of Indian soils began when the Geologi-
cal Survey of India started studying the soils and the
underlying strata in 1846. In 1898, Leather recognized
four major groups of soils in the country: 1) Indo-
Gangetic alluvial soils; 2) black or regur soils; 3) red
soils; and 4) laterite and lateritic soils. The first soil
map of India was prepared by Schokalasky in 1932.[1]
Wadia, Krishnan, and Mukherjee[3] mentioned that
soil groups were nearly coterminal with the boundaries
of the geological outcrops. Vishwanath and Ukil[4]
prepared a soil map portraying the different climatic
types on the basis of N.S. quotients by adopting
color and texture as units of classification; these were
correlated with four major climatic zones (arid, semi-
arid, humid, and perhumid). In 1954, a revised map
was prepared at IARI, New Delhi, on the scale 1 in.
¼ 70 miles, and it showed 20 broad soil classes. The
soil map was revised by Raychaudhuri[5] and later on
by Raychaudhuri and Govindarajan.[6] This map pro-
vided the extent, distribution of the different soil
classes in the map, and their equivalents available in
USDA system.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite consciousness since ancient times about the
need to classify the soils according to their nature
and the relation to the production of specific crops
for human sustenance, there is still a lack of compre-
hensive national classification system for soils of India
like that in the United States and other continents,
Classification Systems: Indian
which can be built on a model, based on key
‘‘functional parameters’’ of soils (just as functional
genomics) in relation to sustainable land use and
management, as indicated by Velayutham.[7]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Most of the information has been excerpts of the
review made by Raychaudhuri (1975).
REFERENCES
1. Raychaudhuri, S.P. Evolution of classification of soils of
India. Indian Agric. 1975, 19 (1), 163–173.
Copyright © 2006 by Taylor & Francis
253
2. Bose, A.N. Social and Rural Economy of Northern India
(c. 600 BC–A.D. 200); Firma, K.L., Ed.; Mukhopadhyay:
Calcutta, 1961; 154 pp.
3. Wadia, D.N.; Krishnan, M.S.; Mukherjee, P.N. Introduc-
tory note on the geological formation of the soils of
India. Rec. Geol. Surv. India 1935, 68, 369–391.
4. Vishwanath, B.; Ukil, A.C. Soil Map of Indian Agricul-
tural Research Institute; New Delhi, 1943.
5. Raychaudhuri, S.P. Land resources of India. In Indian
Soils—Their Classification, Occurrence and Properties;
Committee on Natural Resources, Planning Commission,
Govt. of India, 1964; Vol. I.
6. Raychaudhuri, S.P.; Govindarajan, S.V. Soils of India,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Technical
Bulletin (Agr.) No. 25; 1971; 1–45.
7. Velayutham, M. Available soil information and the need
for a systematic classification of soils of India. J. Indian
Soc. Soil Sci. 2000, 48 (4), 683–689.