The Land Ownership and concept of Land Grants in the Ancient India: A Reappraisal Section A -Research pape ISSN 2063-5346 2592 Eur. Chem. Bull. 2023, 12(Special Issue 6), 2592-2604 The Land Ownership and concept of Land Grants in the Ancient India: A Reappraisal JASMER SINGH Research scholar, & Dr. TABISH HASHMI (Associate Professor) Department of History, LPU, Punjab. According to Medhatithi and Vijnanesvara possession with a legal title was the proof of ownership. One might be in possession of property but as long as title to that property was not clearly proved, he could not become the owner of it. It is the duty of a purchaser to verify the title of the seller before purchase. 1 Whatever may be the facts about possession, in a case in which the property has been enjoyed by a person for three Generations that property cannot be confiscated by the king. In other words, the person in possession for three Generations of a property is treated to be the absolute owner of that property. Sukra holds that if a man enjoys the land for a period of 20 years and the owner in fit to file the suit in a law-court, still he does not do so, the previous owner cannot claim the land. In case a man is in possession of a plot of land for many hundred years and the real owner is found out, the king should punish him like a thief. In support of the legal title of land we have numerous epigraphic records which throw light on the validity of possession on land. When a plot of land was donated it was recorded on a stone slab or copper plate with full details, in the presence of village elders, neighbours and King servants. It was also recorded that it should be enjoyed by the donor as long as sun, the earth endure. When the copper plate or stone slab was split it was again engraved. Economic classification of land: (i) Cultivable land (ii) Waste land (iii) Habitable land (iv) Pasture- land, and (v) Gardens and forest lands. Krishnaswami in his commentary on Amarakosa mentions twelve types of land namely:-(i) Urvara (fertile) (ii) Ushara (barren) (iii)Maru (desert), (iv) Aprahata (fallow), (v)Sadvala (grassy land), (vi) Pankila (muddy land) (vii) Jalavrayananupan (watery or wel land), (viii) Kachchha (land contiguous to water), (ix) Sarkara (land full of pebbles and pieces of limestone), (x)Sakravati (Sandy), (xi) Nadimatrika (land watered from a river for cultivation, (xii)Devamatrika (land watered by rain). 2 Concept of Land Grants:- The idea of donation of land as a form of gift to Brahmanas was envisaged by the Dharmasastra’s, Smriti’s, and Puranas. There are danastuties in the Rig-Veda