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The Vedic Aryans who settled in the fertile tract of the Sindhu-Ganga plain prayed to Indra and other Gods for robust sons along with rich crops and large herds of cattle. They defeated the non-Aryans who were developed and were large in number. The latter had built large cities with great skill. They had their vitality used-up in building prosperity or themselves. They now suffered defeat at the hands of small bands of Aryans. When the latter established themselves, their expanding number became a problem for them. Pressure of population may have been one of the reasons for the war of the Mahabharata. The unmanageable number of yaduvanshis is an evidence in point.

The rise in population has as often been cause of war, poverty and femine, where as victory in battles has been cause of conquest of lands and prosperity, agricultural & economical. Pressure of population was an important factor in the Hellenic wars. Both Plato¹ and Aristotle² expressed concern over large population. The declining size of the Roman stock in the last century of the republic and throughout the epoch of the empire was a problem. In the Middle Ages, over crowding hurt lower warrior class whenever there were no crusades or feudal wars³. The crusades stimulated trade and commerce. Expanding opportunities for absorption of labour led the merchantalists to advocate increase in population. The view came to be known as the populationist theory in the seventeenth century. It was propounded in the works of William Petty (1623-87), Josia Chils (1630-99), Nicholas Barbon (1690), Herrington (1656), Charles Devenant (1656-1734), Arthur Young (1772) and others. These writers considered small population as real poverty, numerous and increasing population as an index of economic prosperity and chief cause of wealth.

Italy, with a relatively dense population, steered clear of the extremes and took a moderate view. Antonio Genovesi (1712-69), Professor of Economics and Commerce in the University of Naples, and Cesare Bonesana Marchese di beccaria (1738-94), Professor of Economics at Milan, advocated a size of population neither too large nor too small. Their views came to be known as the theory of optimum population⁴. It was revived by Kunt Wicksell (1851-1926) in Sweden and further developed by Edwin Cannan (1861-1935), Lioniel Robbins (1898) and Hugh Dalton (1887 - 1962) in England.

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1 The Republic, pp, 106, 108; Laws V. 740.
2 Politics 116, vii, 16.
3 Schumpeter : History of Economic analysis pp. 250-051.
4 Ibid. pp. 251.

* Contributed by: -
Dr. R. P. Verma,
Ex. H.O.D. & Dean, Commerce and Business Management Dept.,
Arabinda Bhandari,
Strategic Management Researcher,
Ranchi University, Ranchi.