The Age of the Imperial Guptas c6.48

c6.48

Lumps of clay bearing two or even three impressions of seals of private persons may mean a joint petition to some officer of Vaiśālī, but when we find that the seal of the great Corporation of Bankers, traders and merchants affixed to the same lump of clay with the seal of the office of a *Kumārāmātya* equal in rank to a prince of the blood-royal what are we to conclude except that it was the seal attached to a contract between these people and the great *Kumārāmātya*?² The small chamber in which Bloch discovered the seals is generally considered to be either the record room of the royal offices at Vaiśālī or the lumber room of some office. Therefore it may be taken that seals with the impression of the great corporation along with those of one or more private persons are really seals attached to petitions addressed to some officials, but in my opinion such an explanation is untenable because there can hardly be any necessity for a great guild to apply jointly with private persons, specially in cases where such persons were members of the great Corporation or a subordinate guild. It appears to me that lumps bearing the impression of the seal of the great Corporation of Bankers, merchants and traders, an invocation and one or more private seals are really seals attached to contracts between one or more parties. Let us take for example 15 specimens of the seal of Prakāśanandin, out of which two were found combined with that of the office of the provincial government of Vaiśālī : Vaiśāly=adhiṣṭhān=ādhikaraṇaḥ. There cannot be any other explanation of this seal save and except that it was a contract between Prakāśanandin and the government which was brought and deposited in the government record office or was thrown away when the contract was no longer subsisting.¹ It cannot be imagined that the office of the government of Vaiśālī sent a petition jointly with a private person named Prakāśanandin to some higher officials. Let us take another example. Out of 27 seals of a private person named Nāgasiṁha, one is combined with the seal of the Corporation of Bankers, traders and merchants and another private person named Bhavasena. In this case also it appears that the seal was attached to a private contract to which the great Corporation was a party and which was brought to the government record office for registration. Arrangements for registration by governments in Ancient India, in ages later than the Gupta period, are far too numerous. We have therefore to admit that out of 274 specimens of the seal of the great Corporation of Bankers, traders and merchants at least 254 were attached to contracts brought to the government office of Vaiśālī for registration and safe custody.