Source: TW
Context
Meat
As a rule, people in antiquity consumed less meat per capita than in the modern day as there was no industrial refrigeration or mechanized farming. Livestock was primarily maintained for secondary products like wool, milk, and labor (tilling, etc.).
Meat was a luxury rather than a staple and India was no exception.
Moreover, people in fertile Indo-Gangetic plains consumed less meat on average than elsewhere in the subcontinent as the region was wealthier and more fertile and their caloric requirements could be met through grains.
Wealth
Stark inequality was the baseline setting for almost every agrarian, pre-industrial civilization on Earth and China was actually atypical among pre-modern polities in its jūntián system.
Had he visited the Byzantine Empire during the same period, his observations would be hardly any different. The Anatolian and Balkan peasants who produced the empire’s food lived in dirt-floor huts & survived on a meagre portion of barley bread and olives whilst state funds were funneled into constructing grand monuments (e.g. the gold dome of Hagia Sophia) just as state funds were being funneled into monasteries and royal residences in the Madhyadeśa whilst peasants couldn’t afford full garments.
In the case of Madhyadeśa, this seems to primarily be the result of inequality where wealth is concentrated at the top (i.e. the king, his chieftains, and the monasteries hold the land and the resources).
madhyadesha
Fǎxiǎn records that people in Gupta-era Madhyadeśa
Vegetarianism
“kill no living thing nor drink wine, nor do they eat garlic or onions, with the exception of Caṇḍālas only.”
Fǎxiǎn says that people do not kill animals and there are no butcher shops and Hyecho agrees (“土地人善。不多愛殺…不見有屠行賣肉之處”, i.e. people are kind-hearted and averse to killing; one sees no butcher shops or meat stalls) Fǎxiǎn says there are no pigs/fowls and Hyecho agrees (“亦不養駝騾驢豬等畜…唯愛養牛”, i.e. no pigs, mules, camels, etc.; only cattle for dairy).
Prosperity
However, the Madhyadeśa country itself is described as quite prosperous:
「又即從此彼羅痆斯國。□□月至中天竺國王住城。名葛那。及自此中天王境界極寬。百姓繁閑。王有九百頭象餘大首領各有三二百頭。其王每自領兵馬鬪戰。常與餘□天戰也。天中王常勝。彼國法。自知象少兵少。即請和。每年輸稅。不交陣相殺也。衣著言音。人風法用。五天相似。唯南天村草百姓。語□差別。仕□之類。中天不殊。」
“Then from there, passing through the Kingdom of Vārāṇasī, [*] month(s) later I arrived at the city where the King of the Madhyadeśa resides, named Kānyakubja. From here, the territory of the King of Madhyadeśa is extremely vast, and the population is dense and prosperous. The king possesses nine hundred elephants, and the other great chieftains each have two to three hundred elephants. The king often leads his troops and horses into battle himself, frequently fighting with the kings of the other [] Indies. The King of Madhyadeśa always wins. According to the laws of those countries, if they realize they have fewer elephants or soldiers, they immediately sue for peace and pay annual taxes rather than engaging in battlefield slaughter. The clothing, spoken language, customs, and laws are similar across the Five Indias. Only the language of the common peasants in the villages of Southern India has [] differences; but the language of the official classes is no different from Central India.”
It’s surpising how well Fǎxiǎn and Hyecho agree in their descriptions of the Madhyadeśa:
Fǎxiǎn says the climate is warm with little frost/snow and Hyecho agrees (“土地甚暖…無有霜雪”).
Fǎxiǎn says there is no corporal punishment and fines are imposed instead and Hyecho agrees (“無有枷棒牢獄…據輕重罰錢…亦無刑戮,” i.e. no cangue, beating, prisons, executions; fines by severity)
Fǎxiǎn says there is no poll-tax and royal land cultivators give share, and Hyecho agrees (“百姓無別庸稅…抽田子五石與王”, i.e. no separate corvée/tax… but paid five shí of grain per crop-field yield to the king.)
They differ only insofar as Hyecho says the commoners are poor and roads could have thieves. However, Hyecho also adds the bandits/thieves usually take goods and release people rather than kill them. (“道路雖有足賊取物即放”).
It’s worth noting that Fǎxiǎn lived in the 4th/5th century (Gupta period) and Hyecho lived in the 8th century, so it’s possible that poverty, warfare, litigation, & banditry was a bit more visible than during the Gupta-era.
Palūr
In contrast, Little Palūr is described as essentially desolate with little farming.
「又自迦葉彌羅國西北隔山七日行至小㔜律國。此屬漢國所管。衣服人風言音飲食。與大㔜律相似。頭上纏疊布一條。女人在髮。貧多富少。山川狹小。田種不多。其山憔杌。元無樹木及於諸草。其大㔜律元是小㔜律王所住之處。為吐蕃來逼。走入小㔜律國坐。首領百姓。在彼大㔜律不來。」
“To the northwest of Kaśmīr, across the mountains for seven days’ journey, one arrives at the Kingdom of Little Palūr. This is governed by the Chinese Empire (Táng Dynasty). Their clothing, customs, food, drink, and language are similar to Great Palūr. They wear cotton shirts and boots, trim their beards and hair, and wrap a strip of cotton cloth around their heads. Women keep their hair. There are many poor and few rich. The mountains and rivers are narrow and small, and there is not much farming. The mountains are barren and bare, completely devoid of trees or grass. Great Palūr was originally the place where the King of Small Palūr resided, but due to pressure from the Tibetans, he fled to reside in the Kingdom of Little Palūr; the chieftains and commoners remained in Great Palūr and did not come over.”
Locus
Great Palūr is clearly Skardu, but I’m not sure if Little Palūr refers only to Gilgit or whether it refers to Gilgit and Hunza collectively since it seems more applicable to Hunza since Gilgit is noticeably warmer than Hunza.
The primary reason that Hunza Valley is famous today for lush apricot orchards & green terraces is because of intense terraforming under the Mirs/Thums during the 18th and 19th centuries when the locals carved irrigation channels to catch melting glacial water from Batura Glacier.
During the eight century the landscape of Hunza valley would have probably been largely barren. If I’m not mistaken, the locals of Hunza still practiced a strict form of seasonal subsistence farming well into the late medieval period.
Other parts
He uses the same phrase (貧多富少, “largely poor, rarely rich”) for the commoners of Central India, Kaśmīr, & Little Palūr. 「彼土百姓。貧多富少。王官屋裏。及富有者。著㲲一雙… 貧者半片。」 「人民極眾。貧多富少。王及首領諸富有者。衣著與中天不殊。自外百姓。悉枝毛毯…」 「…頭上纏疊布一條。女人在髮。貧多富少。山川狹小。田種不多。其山憔杌。元無樹木及於諸草。」