India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s3.13

c9.s3.13

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).