The Age of the Imperial Guptas c6.38.2

c6.38.2

"Victorious be the lord Ananta with the goddess Ambā," "victory to god" "adoration to Paśupati" or "adoration to him." On the same lump, on which the seal of the Corporation and the seal bearing the invocation are to be found, we find other seals bearing the names of officials and one or more private persons. One such lump bears on it the seal of the office of a *Kumārāmātya* equal in rank to the younger princes. In many cases the names of more than one person are to be found on one and the same lump of clay. The seals of Mātr̥dāsa and Satyāśrita are to be found on the same seal on which are to be seen the invocation, *namastasmai*, and the seal of the Corporation of merchants, traders and bankers. That such guilds were not confined to Vaiśālī or Tirabhukti is proved by the discovery of a seal with an almost similar legend at Bhita in the Allahabad district. In the case of the Bhita seal the legend was wrongly translated by Dr. Vogel, who regarded the term *Kulika* as “a special tribe employed as captains of mercenaries.”¹ On this Spooner very pertinently observed, “the expressions ‘Bankers, traders and merchants’ is a homogeneous and consistent compound; ‘Bankers, traders and captains’ of mercenaries would seem to involve an incongruity.”² From a distance of fifteen centuries it is very difficult to understand what this combined corporation of bankers, traders and merchants was.