The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c28.36

v1.c28.36

In the country, except where undertakings such as mines and other works created exceptional conditions, the second and third classes, the husbandmen and the neatherds and shepherds, must have predominated: the village servants⁵, such as the potter, the blacksmith, the carpenter, the barber, would belong to the third. In the towns we hear of labourers, craftsmen, traders, inspectors, and officials⁶. The crafts are numerous⁷, especially those dealing with the precious metals and with textiles. The professions include the doctor, the actor, singer and rhapsodist, the dancer, and the soothsayer⁸. The traders are partly state officials in charge of royal merchandise, or in superintendence of matters connected with prices and sales, partly actual shopkeepers or travelling merchants; and not rare among both classes was the rich *çreshṭhin*, or *seth*, who was an important social factor, and, if a leader in his guild, received official recognition¹. In the workshops and the prisons (the latter periodically emptied²) artisans were engaged on contract or in penal tasks; and there is a 'spinning house' for the labour of widows and other helpless or unfortunate women³.