India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s3.10

c9.s3.10

*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).