[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922) › v1.c19.s9.317 # The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.317 The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.317 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c19.s9.317](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.317) The act of exchange between producer and consumer, or between either and a middleman, was both before and during the age when the Jātaka-book was compiled, a ‘free’ bargain, a transaction unregulated, with one notable exception, by any system of statute-fixed prices. Supply was hampered by slow transport, by individualistic production, and by primitive machinery. But it was left free for the producer and dealer to prevail by competition³, and also by adulteration⁴, and to bring about an equation with a demand which was largely compact of customary usage and relatively unaffected by the swifter fluctuations termed fashion. - [Previous: v1.c19.s9.316](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.316) - [Next: v1.c19.s9.318](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.318) - [Up: v1.c19.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.317](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.317) · Pramāṇa