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India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s3: Section 6. Trade and Commerce

India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c9.s3

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Section 6. Trade and Commerce

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Pāṇini uses a variety of terms connected with trade, *e.g.*, currency and barter (*nimāna*), traders (*vāṇija*) and trade routes (*patha*), sale and purchase (*kraya-vikraya*), shops (*āpaṇa*), saleable commodities (*paṇya*), taxes on trade (*śulka*) and banking and loans (*ṛiṇa*).

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*VYAVHĀRA* (BUSINESS)—Trade and commerce are implied in the general term *vyavahāra* (II.3.57), also called *paṇa* (II.3.57). Its main feature is *kraya-vikraya* (IV.4.13), *i.e.*, sale and purchase. It appears that *vyavahāra* included larger business such as export and import, while *paṇa* denoted local sale and purchase, whence saleable goods were called *paṇya* (IV.4.51).

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*TRADERS*—Traders are called *vaṇik* (III.3.52) and *vāṇija*, (VI.2.13). These terms seem to have been applied to traders without reference to caste, *e.g.*, *Madra-vāṇija*, one who traded with the Madra country (VI.2.13).

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Merchants were named after the nature of their business and the amount of capital they invested in it, *e.g.*, (1) *kraya-vikrayika*, whose main occupation was buying and selling (IV.4.13); and (2) *vasnika*, a merchant who invested his own money in business (IV.4.13); and (3) *sāṁsthānika*, a member of a commercial guild (*saṁsthāna*, IV.4.72). The last was probably the same as *sārthika* or *sārthavāha* mentioned in the Jātakas. Pāṇini also refers to other classes of traders, *e.g.*, *prāstārika*, one who deals in minerals; *kaṭhine vyavharati*, one who deals in forest produce like bamboo (*vaṁśa*) and grasses (*vārdha*, IV.4.72, *Kāśikā*).

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The traders were also named after the articles in which they dealt and from the countries visited by them for business (*Gantavya-paṇyaṁ vāṇije*, VI.2.13), *e.g.*, *aśva-vāṇija*, a dealer in horses, and *Gāndhāri-vāṇija*, a trader who goes to Gandhāra on business (*gatvā vyavaharati*, *Kāśikā*), *Kāśmira-vāṇija*, *Madra-vāṇija*. These examples of merchants visiting distant provinces on business point to inter-provincial commercial intercourse and activity. The Jātakas often refer to merchants from eastern India going with their caravans to remote destinations in north-west India, *e.g.*, trade relations between Videha and Kashmīra and Gandhāra (III.365), Magadha and Sovīra (*Vimānavatthu Aṭṭhakathā*, p. 336), Rājagṛiha and Śrāvastī (*Sutta Nip.*, vv. 1012-3), Banāras and Śrāvastī (II.294), and Banāras and Ujjain (II.248) [B. C. Law, *India as Described in Buddhist and Jain Texts*, p. 185]. As a matter of fact the names of merchants envisaged in Pāṇini’s rule would better apply to merchants trading with distant countries.

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*BUSINESS*—A place of business was called *āpaṇa* (III. 3. 119, *etya tasminn-āpaṇanta ityāpaṇaḥ*, *Kāśikā*) and articles of trade *paṇya* and *paṇitavya* (III. 1. 101). These when properly displayed in shops were called *krayya*, 'to be sold' (*Krayyas-tadarthe*, VI. 1. 82). *Paṇya* is a general term for merchandise, while *krayya* denotes wares marked out for sale.

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The *sūtra Tena krītam* (V. 1. 37), 'purchased with that', points to the practice of sale and purchase of goods for a price fixed between the buyer and the seller. Pāṇini mentions several coins of gold, silver and copper which served as media of exchange (*infra*, Sec. 9).

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The articles purchased in the market were named after the price paid for them. A variety of epithets are noted as applied to articles purchased for one *nishka* (V. 1. 20), 2 *nishkas*, 3 *nishkas* (V. 1. 30), 1 or 1½ *vimśatika* coin (V. 1. 32), 1 *śatamāna* (V. 1. 27), 1 *kārshāpaṇa* or 1000 *kārshāpaṇas* (V. 1. 29), a *śāṇa* coin, or a *pāda*, or a *māsha* of copper (V. 1. 34-35), etc. Thus articles with a wide range of values are mentioned, *e.g.* those valued at one thousand or more silver pieces (*sahasra kārshāpaṇas*, V. 1. 27), and those of the lowest value like a copper *māsha*. The system of barter (*nimāna*, V. 2. 47) was also known (*infra*, Sec. 7).

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*EARNEST-MONEY*—In settling the sale and purchase of goods it is customary for the buyer to advance earnest-money to the seller as gurantee of good faith. Pāṇini refers to such a contract as *satyāpayati* (III. 1. 25) or *satyā karoti* (V. 4. 66) (*mayaitat kretavyamiti tathyaṁ karoti, Kāśikā*), and to the earnest money as *satyaṁkāra* (VI.3.70; cf. Hindi *sāī*, part of the price paid in advance).¹ The system of *satyāpana*, paying earnest money extends even to hired workmen, as confectioners engaged to work for a feast.

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*CAPITAL AND PROFIT*—Profit is called *lābha* (V. 1. 47). Pāṇini draws a clear distinction between the capital invested called *mūla*, and the profit earned on it (*mūlena ānāmya*) as *mūlya* (IV.4.91, *paṭādīnāṁ utpattikāraṇaṁ mūlam, mūlyaṁ hi saguṇaṁ mūlam, Kāśikā*; 'mūla is the cost-price of cloth and *mūlya* is the cost with profits'). Pāṇini also notes a second meaning of *mūlya* to denote an object equivalent in value to the price paid (*mūlena samam*, IV. 4. 91). In the first instance, *mūlya* is taken as the cost price plus profit, accruing to the seller; in the second case the object is regarded as worth the money paid. Pāṇini refers to a sale transaction named after the amount of profit earned from it (*Tadasmin vṛiddhyāya-lābha-śulk-opadā dīyate*, V. 1. 47), *e.g.* *pañchaka, saptaka, śatya* or *śatika, sāhasra, i.e.* a deal giving a profit of 5, 7, 100 or 1,000 coins (*Kāśikā*). *Pañchaka*, giving 5 as profit, perhaps referred to a capital sum of rupees one hundred, as we know from Kauṭilya mentioning the profit of a middle man to be 5% (*Arth.* IV. 2).

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*VASNA*—In the Vedic literature *vasna* denotes the 'price' paid for anything, or its 'value' or the thing as an object of purchase, 'ware' (*Vedic Index*, II.278). Pāṇini discusses *vasna* in three *sūtras* (IV.4.13; V.¹.51; V.1.56), where its meaning is sale-price or value realised (*mūlya, Kāśikā*). In the first instance a *vasnika* trader was one who only owned a financial interest in the profits of the deal as contrasted with *kraya-vikrayika* (IV. 4. 13) who carried on actual business himself. Next a *vasnika* trader was named according to his *vasna* or share in the sale-proceeds (*so'syāṁśa-vasna-bhṛitayaḥ*, V. 1. 56), *e.g. sāhasra*, 'whose share of sale-proceeds is one thousand.' This refers to some kind of corporate business as was carried on by the *sāṁsthānika* or *sārthavāha* traders.

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¹ Cf. *Yāj. Smṛiti*, II.61; also Mallinātha on *Kirāta*, XI, 50.

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Thirdly a *vasnika* merchant is distinguished from a *dravyaka* (V. 1. 51), the latter was a trader on outward journey conveying merchandise for sale (*dravya*), and the former was so-called because he carried the sale-proceeds on his return journey home. The three stages in the journey of a trader are thus called: (1) *harati*, at the source, (2) *vahati*, in the process of transport, and (3) *āvahati*, at the end of the journey. Thus a caravan merchant carrying goods from Mathurā to Takshaśilā would be called *dravyaka* in three places, viz., at Mathurā whence he was carrying (Pāṇini's *harati=deśāntaraṁ prāpayati, Kāśikā*), on the way while transporting (*vahati*), and at Takshaśilā where he arrived (*āvahati*). The same man returning from Takshaśilā to Mathurā with the sale-proceeds was called *vasnaka* at those very three stages of the journey. As specific instances of merchandise transported by the *dravyaka* traders, Pāṇini mentions *vaṁśa* (bamboo), *kuṭaja* (*Holarrhena antidysenterica*), *balbaja* (a coarse grass, *Eleusine indica, Hindi babai*), *mūla* (roots), *aksha* (axle), *sthūṇā* (pillar), *aśman* (stone), *aśva* (horses), *ikshu* (sugar-cane) and *khaṭvā* (bed-steads), whence the traders were called *vāṁśika* or *vāṁśabhārika, etc.* *Vasna* went out of use after Pāṇini, but survives in Bhojpuri dialect. The *Arthaśāstra* uses the popular *mūlya*. Patañjali has it once in the sense of sale-price (*anyena hi vasnen-aikaṁ gāṁ, krīṇāti, anyena dvau, anyena trīn, Bhāshya*, I.95).

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*TAXES ON TRADE*—*Śulka* denoted such taxes on trade as customs and octroi. Pāṇini mentions that the consignment was named after the duty paid on it (V.1.47). The custom-house was called *śulkaśālā* and the income from customs *śaulkaśālika* (stock-example on IV.3.75, *Ṭhag-āya-sthānebhyaḥ*). *Ardha* (V. 1. 48) and *bhāga* (V. 1. 49) are mentioned as amounts of octroi duty, (both denoting half of a *kārshāpaṇa*), the consignment being called *ardhika* or *bhāgika* (also *bhāgya*).

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Pāṇini makes a general reference to taxes levied in the eastern part of India (*Prāchāṁ kāra-nāma*), amongst which Patañjali includes toll-taxes, *e.g.* *avikatoraṇaḥ*, 'one ram levied per fold of sheep (*Kāranāmni cha Prāchāṁ halādau*, VI.3.10 *Bhāshya*, III. 144). The *Kāśikā* cites other stock-examples as *yūtha-paśu*, one animal-head per herd of cattle; *nadī-dohanī*, one pailful milk levied at the ferry. Other similar taxes, but not on trade were *dṛishadi-māshaka*, one *māshaka* coin collected per mill (household); *mukuṭe-kārshāpaṇam*, one *kārshāpaṇa* coin per capita; *hale-dvipadikā*, two *pāda* coins per ploughshare, which seems to have been a tax on agriculture. Patañjali considers these to be names of current taxes sanctioned by usage (*loka*).

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*TRADE ROUTES*—As already stated Pāṇini mentions roads leading from one city to another (*Tad-gachchhati pathi-dūtayoh*, IV.3.85), and marked into well-defined stages (see illustration on *sūtra*, III.3.136). Katyāyana mentions different kinds of trade routes, as through forests (*kāntārapatha*), jungle-thickets *jaṅgalapatha*), on land (*sthala-patha*), and in water (*vāripatha*). The goods gathered (*ābhṛita*) and transported along these routes were called after the route, *e.g.* *kāntāra-pathika*, goods coming by way of the forest. The *kāntāra-patha* seems to be the name of the route across the Vindhya forests which, as we know from Buddhist literature, connected Kośāmbī with Pratishṭhāna and Bharukachchha. *Ajapatha* (goat-track) and *śaṅkupatha* (precipitous route negotiated by spikes) were narrow pathways in mountainous regions (*vārttika* on V. 1. 77; *Bhāshya*, II. 358).

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Liquorice (*madhuka*) and pepper (*maricha*) were imported by the land route called *sthalapatha* (Kātyāyana), evidently from the south.

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In the Devapathādi-gaṇa (V. 3. 100) Pāṇini refers to various kinds of routes, e.g. *vāripatha*, *sthalapatha*, *rathapatha*, *karipatha*, *ajapatha*, *śaṅkupatha*, *rājapatha*, *siṁhapatha*, adding two more, viz. *haṁsapatha* and *devapatha*, which relate to air. We get an old record of some of these in the *Mahāniddesa* e.g. *jaṇṇupatha* (correct reading *vaṇṇupatha*—Skt. *varṇupatha*, route through the sandy tract of Sindh-Sagar Doab, leading to Bannu, cf. *Vaṇṇupatha Jāt.*); *ajapatha* (goat-track), *meṇḍhapatha* (ram-track), *śaṅkupatha* (spike-track), *chhattapatha* (parasol-route), *vaṁsapatha* (bamboo-track), *sakuṇapatha* (bird-track, cf. Pāṇini's *haṁsapatha*), *mūsikapatha* ('mouse passage'), *darīpatha* (*cavern-path*), and *vettachāra* (course of reeds) (*Mahāniddesa*, Vol. I. pp. 154-55; Vol. II, pp. 414-15).

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Light is thrown on Pāṇini's *ajapatha* by the *Bṛihatkathā ślokasaṁgraha* describing *ajapatha* during the coarse of a journey to Suvarṇabhūmi as a very narrow goat-track which could not be crossed by two persons from opposite sides (*Bṛihatkathā ślokasaṁgraha*, XVIII.416; Sylvain Lèvi, 'Ptolémée, la Niddesa et la Bṛihatkathā', *Etudes Asiatique*, Vol. II, pp. 1-55, Paris 1925). Narrow tracks leading over high mountains and defiles were negotiated with the help of goats and rams to transport merchandise.

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Pāṇini's *śaṅkupatha* refers to even more difficult mountainous ascents which could be negotiated only by scaling the heights with the help of spikes or nails carefully driven into the hill-side. A Jātaka passage also refers to *saṁkupatha* (*vettāchāro saṁkupatha pi chinne*, Jat. III. 541). Pāṇini's *haṁsapatha* corresponds to *sakuṇapatha* of the *Mahāniddesa*. Kālidāsa also refers to *devapatha* (=*surapatha*), *ghanapatha* and *khagapatha* mentioned in the order of their relative heights (*Raghuvamśa*, XIII. 19). *Dēvapatha* originally was a track in the sky, but in the *sūtra* under reference Pāṇini refers to *devapatha* as a technical term denoting the highest passage on the top of the rampart of a city, which derived its name from its height compared to the *devapatha* in the sky. We are indebted to the *Arthaśāstra* for this technical meaning of *devapatha* implied in Pāṇini's *sūtra* (*Arthaśāstra*, II. 3). *UTTARAPATHA*—Pāṇini mentions *Uttarapatha* and the articles procured (*āhṛita*) along that route as *auttarapathika* (*Uttarapathen-āhṛitaṁ cha*, V. 1. 77), the latter also denoted the travellers on it (*Uttarapathena gachchhati*). The *Uttarapatha* may be identified with the ancient highway from east India to Gandhāra and thence towards farther west. The entire Grand Trunk Road within India and as far as the Oxus, was well known to the Greeks as 'Northern Route', a literal rendering of *Uttarapatha*.

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Its Oxo-Caspian portion from India to the West by the Oxus and the Caspian is mentioned by Strabo (II. 73; XI. 509) and Pliny (Tarn, *The Greeks in Bactria and India*, p. 488, Appendix 14). 'Strabo, speaking of the Oxus, states (XI, 509) that it formed a link in an important chain along which Indian goods were carried to Europe by way of the Caspian and the Black Seas. He cites as one of his authorities Patrocles, who was an admiral in the service of Antiochus I, and thus makes it clear that the route was a popular one early in the 3rd century B.C.' (*Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 433). Strabo also wrote that 'The Oxus is sufficiently navigable for the Indian trade to be carried across to it and to be easily brought down the river to the Hyrcanian (sea) and the places beyond as far as the Black Sea by way of the rivers.' (Tarn, *op. cit.*, p. 489).

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On the Indian side this route was linked up with Pāṭaliputra and ultimately with the mouth of the Ganges. As Rawlinson writes: 'The first thing which struck Megasthenes on entering India, was the Royal Road from the frontier to Pāṭaliputra, down which the envoy must have travelled to the capital. It was constructed in eight stages, and ran from the frontier town of Peukelaotis to Taxila; from Taxila, across the Indus, to the *Jihlam*; then to the Beas, near the spot where Alexander erected his altars. From here it went to the Sutlej; from the Sutlej to the Jamna; and from the Jamna, probably *via* Hastinapura, to the Ganges. From the Ganges the road ran to a town called Rhodopha, and from Rhodopha to Kalinipaxa (probably Kānyakubja or Kanauj). From Kanauj it went to the mighty town of Prayāga at the junction of the Ganges and the Jamna, and from Prayāga to Pāṭaliputra. From the capital it continued its course to the mouth of the Ganges, probably at Tamluk, though Megasthenes never traversed the last stage of the road. At every mile along the road was a stone to indicate the by-roads and distances'. (*Intercourse between India and the Western World*, p. 42; also its Appendix I for the distances between the stages on the Royal Road, p. 64). This great highway passed through important *janapadas* and cities, such as Bālhika, Kāpiśī, Pushkalāvatī, Takshaśilā, Śākala, Hāstinapura, Rathaspā (=Sk. Rhodopha, a name of the Rāmagangā), Kānyakubja, Prayāga, Pāṭaliputra and Tāmralipti. Along this great highway must have passed up and down long caravans transporting merchandise (*bhāṇḍa*, III. 1. 20). On this route lay the town called Udbhāṇḍa (Ohind) as the destination where the merchandise was unloaded for transhipment across the Indus.

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*ARTICLES OF TRADE*—As names of marketable articles (*Tadasya paṇyam* IV. 4. 51), Pāṇini mentions *lavaṇa* (salt, IV. 4. 52), perfumes like *kiśara*, *tagara*, *guggulu*, *uśīra* (IV. 4.53) and *śalālu* (a kind of perfume, IV.4.54; cf. Pāli *salala*, the sweet scented flower of *Pinus devadara*, Jāt. V. 420; *Sāratthapakāsinī*, III. p. 263. The *Ashṭādhyāyī* acquaints us with an interesting list of other economic products, such as silk fabrics (*kauśeya*, IV. 3. 42), wool and woollen stuffs (*ūrṇā* and *aurṇaka*, IV. 3. 158), linen and linen goods (*umā* and *auma*, IV. 3. 158), hemp (*bhaṅgā*, V. 2. 4), cotton (*tūla*, III. 1. 25; *karpāsī*, *gaṇa* of IV. 3. 136); cloth (*vastra*, III. 1. 21); clothing like *upasaṁvyāna* (I. 1. 36, *āchchbādana*, IV. 3. 143), *brihatikā* (a dress reaching up to feet, V. 4. 6); blankets like *paṇya-kambala* of a fixed weight and set standard (VI. 2. 42; IV. 1. 22), *prāvāra* (III. 3. 54) and *pāṇḍu-kambala* (IV. 2. 11) imported from Gandhāra; deer skins (*ajina*, VI. 2. 194); skins of tigers and leopards (*dvaipa*, *vaiyāghra*, IV. 2. 12) used as upholstering material for chariots; dye-stuffs (*rāga*), like lac (*lākshā*, IV. 2. 2), orpiment (*rochanā*, IV. 2. 2), madder (*mañjishṭhā*, VIII. 3. 97) and indigo (*nīlī*, IV. 1. 42); sacks and grain containers (*āvapana*), as *goṇī* (IV. 1. 42); big and small leather containers (*kutū* and *kutu-pa*, V. 3. 89); leather goods as shoes (*upānah*, V. 1. 14), straps and thongs (*naddhrī*, III. 2. 182, *vārdhra*, IV. 3. 151); iron chains (*śṛiṅkhala*, V. 2. 79), spikes (*ayaḥ-śūla*, V. 2. 76), tools and instruments like sickle (*dātra*, III. 2. 182), ploughshare (*kuśī*, IV. 1. 42), yoke (*yuga*), axle (*aksha*, VI. 3. 104), spade (*khanitra*, III. 2. 184), oar (*aritra*, III.2.184), loom (*tantra*, V.2.70) and shuttle (*pravāṇi*, V.4.160); food stuffs like *guḍa* (IV.4.103), *phāṇita* (VII.2.18), milk (*kshīra*), curds (*dadhi*), butter (*haiyaṅgavīna*, V.2.23), vegetables (*śāka*, VI.2.128), cereals and pulses (*dhānyas*); utensils and pottery (*amatra*, IV.2.14; *kaulālaka*, IV.3.118) of various sizes to cook different quantities (III.2.33); intoxicating drinks like *madya* (III.1.100), *maireya* (VI.2.70), *surā* (II.4.25) prepared in distilleries (*āsuti*, V.2.112) and sold in booths (*śuṇḍika*, IV.3.76) and the costly *kāpiśāyana* imported from *Kāpiśī* in north Afghanistan (IV.2.99); gold and silver ornaments like *karṇikā*, *lalāṭikā* (IV.3.65); gems (*maṇi*) like emerald (*sasyaka*, V.2.68), ruby (*lohitaka*, V.4.30) and cat's eye (*vaidūrya*, IV. 3. 84); metals as gold, silver, copper, lead and tin; arms and weapons (*śastra*, III. 2. 182), as spears (*śakti*, IV. 4. 59), javelins (*kāsū*, V. 3. 90), battle-axe (*paraśvadha*, IV. 4. 58), bows (*dhanu*), arrows (*ishu*, VI. 2. 107) and coats of mail (*varma*, III. 1. 25); musical instruments like lute (*vīṇā*, III. 3. 65), tabor (*madḍuka*) cymbals (*jharjhara*, IV. 4. 56); and miscellaneous objects like images (*pratikṛiti*, V. 3. 96), garland (*mālā*, VI. 3. 65), perfumery (IV. 4. 53; IV. 4. 54); balance (*tulā*, IV. 4. 91), weights (*māna*), measures (*parimāṇa*), coins; and various conveyances like wagons (*śakaṭa*), chariots (*ratha*) and boats (*nau*, IV. 4. 7), etc.

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The *Kāśikā* illustrating Pāṇini VI. 2. 13 (*Gantavya-paṇyaṁ vāṇije*) particularly mentions merchants who dealt in cows, bulls (*go-vāṇija*) and horses (*aśva-vāṇija*). Pāṇini himself refers to the famous breed of bulls from the Sālva country, (IV.2.136) and to the breed of mares from beyond the Indus (*pāre-vaḍavā*, VI. 2. 42).

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There were some articles, trading in which was not approved, *e.g.* *soma-vikrayī*, *rasa-vikrayī* (*Kāśikā* on III. 2. 93, *Karmaṇīni vikrīyaḥ*). The selling of *soma* plant and liquids as cow's milk was also banned by the law-books (*cf. Manu*, X. 86-89).

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Trade depended upon provision of necessary stocks called by Pāṇini as *saṁbhāṇḍayate* (III.1.20; equal to *samāchayana* of Kātyāyana, and of ware-houses where they were stocked (*bhāṇḍāgāra*, IV.4.70).

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