‘Sita” in Maurya age means

The correct answer is C. In the Mauryan economy, sita meant land kept under the direct control of the state, the crown's own farms, as distinct from land given to peasants who paid tax. The Arthashastra describes the sita-adhyaksha, the superintendent of crown farms, who got this land cultivated through slaves, hired labourers, prisoners and convicts, with the state sometimes supplying oxen and seed. The produce or its revenue went to the royal treasury.

• A: Sita is a goddess in later Hindu tradition, the wife of Rama in the Ramayana, but that has nothing to do with Mauryan revenue terminology.
• B: No religious sect by this name is attested in the Mauryan period. Administrative texts do not use the term that way.
• D: Sita land was not barren. It was productive, worked land, and the Arthashastra discusses its management in detail.

Concept link: sita was the state's direct agrarian base, alongside the bhaga, the share of produce taken from peasant holdings. It is useful for Mains answers on the Mauryan economy, the state's role in production, and the Arthashastra as a source for ancient economic history.

Trap: Candidates see the word and think of Sita the goddess, or assume it is a religious term. Ask what the state did with land in its administration, and the answer follows.