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Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12: Chapter VIII. Industry, Trade, and Currency

Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12

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Contents

Chapter VIII. Industry, Trade, and Currency

Introductory

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The outstanding achievement of Mahāpadma Nanda, the founder of the Nanda dynasty, was the completion of the political unity of Northern India, excluding the Indus basin, but including the Malwa tableland, the Kaliṅga seaboard and probably also a good part of the Deccan. Probably because of his low birth, he was led to make a clean sweep of the principal Kshatriya ruling families of his time and make himself, in the expressive language of the Purāṇas, ‘the sole ruler of the earth.’ The consequence of this absorption of the petty States of Northern India into a large empire could not but have been highly beneficial to the cause of material progress. Northern India, by virtue of its fertile soil and favourable climate, its magnificent waterways and its extensive coastline must have from the first enjoyed exceptional opportunities provided by nature for economic prosperity. Under the strong and centralised administration of the Nandas, trade and industry could not but advance greatly. In particular, the needs of their exceptionally wealthy court, to which later traditions bear witness¹ and their organised administration heralding that of the Mauryas must have given a great impetus to industrial and commercial effort. The direct interest of the Nandas in commercial development is perhaps indicated by their invention of a new standard measure referred to in the *Kāśikā* commentary² as well as their standardisation of the old silver coinage to be described later on.

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¹ Cf. *Mudrā-rākshasa* Act iii, v. 37 referring to the Nandas as *navanavati-śata-dravyakotiśvarāḥ*.

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² On Pāṇini ii. 4. 21.

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Beyond the limits of the Nanda dominions lay the Indus basin conquered long before by the Achaemenids, but divided at this period into a group of small kingdoms and republics. Politically as disorganised as was Madhyadeśa at the time of the Buddha more than a century earlier, it stood now at a high level of economic prosperity. The accounts of Alexander's officers inform us not only of numbers of rich and populous cities located in the land of the Five Rivers, but also of the wealth of the royal courts and republics. The devastating effects of Alexander's invasion could not but have affected disastrously the economic condition of the territories subdued by his arms and none of his measures for laying the foundation of an extensive commerce between India and the Hellenistic world took root immediately.

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The liberation of North-western India by Chandragupta Maurya, preceded or followed in a short time by his deposition of the last king of the Nanda line, and the series of his subsequent victories laid the foundation of an empire extending from the Bay of Bengal to the Afghan highlands and from the Himalayas to the Narmadā and beyond. The military successes of Bindusāra and Aśoka helped not only to complete and consolidate the newly built empire, but extended its limits till it abutted on the Tamil Kingdoms of the far south. For three generations from the time of the founder the strong arm of the Mauryas ensured internal security and immunity from foreign aggression. Aśoka's vigorous propaganda further paved the way for the spread of Indian culture to distant Ceylon and the Hellenistic states almost to their furthest limits. It is not unreasonable to suppose that these favourable conditions were attended with a phenomenal development of industry as well as inland and foreign trade of the empire under Maurya rule.

Industry

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The enormous advance of Indian industries which has just been postulated for the Nanda and Maurya times was rendered possible by the abundance of India's agricultural and mineral resources to which the Greek writers allude with evident admiration. 'India,' says Diodorus (ii. 35-7) quoting from Megasthenes, 'has many huge mountains which abound in fruit trees of every kind and many vast plains of great fertility—more or less beautiful, but all alike intersected by a multitude of rivers .... And while the soil bears on its surface all kinds of fruits, it has also underground numerous veins of all sorts of metals, for it contains much gold and silver and copper and iron in no small quantity and even tin and other metals.....India again possesses many rivers both large and navigable¹. A no less important factor of economic progress noted likewise by the observant Greeks was the extraordinary skill of the Indian craftsman which has been his heritage down to our own times. Thus, to continue the quotation from Diodorus given above, ‘The inhabitants are found to be well skilled in the arts.’ Concrete instances of the skill of the Indian craftsmen are found in the *Geography* of Strabo (xv. 1.67) from information supplied by Nearchus².

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¹ According to the above account, gold, silver, copper and iron to a large extent along with tin and other metals to a much less degree were mined from India itself. Among the five sources of gold and five of silver specified in the *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 13), however, Gauḍa alone can be definitely identified as belonging to India.

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² Thus we are told that Indian craftsmen, seeing sponges used for the first time by the Macedonians, immediately manufactured imitations of them with fine thread and wool. They also quickly learnt to make Greek articles such as the scrapers and oil flasks used by the athletes.

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One of the oldest Indian industries is that of textile manufacture. The technical terms for warp (*tantu*) and woof (*otu*) are found in the *Ṛgveda* and *Atharva-veda*, while the shuttle (*tasara*) and the loom (*veman*) are mentioned in the *Yajus- saṃhitā* and other texts³. Among the textile industries, that of cotton manufacture held the first place. It found an excellent market at home in the habits of the people whose immemorial dress consisting of a pair of cotton garments is referred to alike in the early Buddhist texts and in the writings of the Greek observers⁴. No wonder then that among the presents offered by the Mālavas and their allies to the victorious Alexander was included a large quantity of cotton cloth. While the cotton industry evidently was spread over the whole land, certain centres had early become famous for the excellence of their fabrics. The early Buddhist texts speak with high praise of Benares cloth (*Kāsikuttama* or *Kāsika-vattha*) as well as the cloth of the Sivi country (*Siveyyaka* or *Siveyyaka*)⁵. We have a fuller list in Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 11) where Madhurā (capital of the Pāṇḍya country), Aparānta (Konkan on the western coast), Kāśi, Vaṅga, Vatsa (Kauśāmbi region), and Mahiṣa are said to produce the best cotton fabrics (kārpāsika). In the same context, the Arthaśāstra specifically mentions three varieties of dukūla (an unidentified species of fibrous fabric) distinguished by their place of origin and their colour. These were the products of Vaṅga (East Bengal), Puṇḍra (North Bengal) and Suvarṇakuḍya (in Kāmarūpa). They were respectively white, dark and coloured like the rising sun. In the same connection, the Arthaśāstra mentions linen fabrics (kshauma) of Kāśi as well as Puṇḍra. Kauṭilya also refers to the fabrics produced in Magadha, Puṇḍra and Suvarṇakuḍya. Linen fabrics (khoma) are also referred to in the early Buddhist literature¹.

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³ See *Vedic Index*, *s.v.*

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⁴ See P. T. S. *Dictionary*, *s. v.* *kappāsa*, and Arrian’s *Indica*, ch. xvi.

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⁵ Cf. *Aṅguttara Nikāya* i. 248 : *Vinaya Piṭaka* i. 278, 280 : *Jātakas* iv. 401 : vi. 51 etc.

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s. v. khoma.

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It will be noticed from the above that Bengal, Kāmarūpa and Benares were the regions noted thus early as centres of the textile industry. The technical perfection of the industry is well illustrated by the fact that the Arthaśāstra distinguishes varieties of dukūla and kshauma according to their colour and process of manufacture, while those of patrorṇā are distinguished according to their material and colour.

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Coming to costlier textiles, we find references to silk cloth (koseya and koseyya-pāvāra) in the Pāli canonical works and the Jātakas². Kauṭilya (ii. 11) also mentions kauśeya along with chīna-paṭṭa chīna-bhūmija (Chinese fabric of Chinese manufacture). This last passage points to the fact that silks of Chinese origin competed at this time with the home-made product.

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² Ibid., s.v.

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On the other hand, the manufacture of wool was an old and indigenous industry. The fame of the fine wool of Gandhāri goes back to the Ṛgveda which also knows a woollen garment called śamulya³. The woollen fabrics of Gandhāra along with those of Koṭumbara or Koḍumbara—a region connected by Jean Przyluski⁴ with the Audumbaras of the Punjab—are mentioned with high praise in the Jātakas⁵. Kauṭilya, while silent about Gandhāra, mentions by name (ii. 11) the woollen goods of Nepal called bhiṅgisī or apasāraka. These are said to be formed of eight pieces, dark in colour and rain-proof. What advance the manufacture of this material had attained during the period of the *Arthaśāstra* is proved by the fact that Kauṭilya specifies three varieties of fabrics of sheep's wool distinguished by colour, four varieties distinguished by their manufacturing process, and no less than ten varieties distinguished by their use for human beings and for animals. The qualities of the best wool are carefully noted by the author in the same connection. The *Arthaśāstra* also distinguishes in the same context six kinds of fabrics manufactured from the hair of wild animals, and differing in their uses and qualities.

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³ See Vedic Index, s.v., for references.

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⁴ Un ancien people de Punjab ; Les Udumbara in J. As., 1926, pp. 25-36.

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⁵ See Jat. vi. 500.

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Before closing the subject of textile manufacture, we may mention a few of its finer forms known at that period. The use of embroidered cloth (*pesas*) is as old as the *Ṛgveda*, its manufacture according to a *Yajus Saṃhitā* text being normally carried on by women¹. The *Jātakas* refer to golden turbans used by kings and golden trappings for the use of State elephants². In the times of the Nandas and the Mauryas, gold-embroidered garments were worn by Indians evidently of the richer class. This is borne out by the testimony of Strabo, who says (xv. 1.54). 'They (the Indians) wear apparel embroidered with gold and use ornaments set with precious stones and gay-coloured linen garments'³. These gorgeous dresses were specially displayed during festive occasions. Describing the festive processions of the Indians, Strabo (xv. 1. 69) mentions not only the train of elephants adorned with gold and silver, but also the attendants wearing 'garments embroidered and inter-woven with gold.' Curtius, again, in the course of his description of the Indian king's public appearance, says that the king is 'robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold.'

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¹ See *Vedic Index*, s.v. *pesas*.

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² *Jāt.* iv 404 : v. 322.

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³ Somewhat different is McCrindle's translation which is as follows ; (*Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian*, Calcutta ed., p. 69) :- 'Their robes are worked in gold and ornamented with precious stones and they wear also flowered garments made of the finest muslin.'

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Wood-work is a very old Indian industry. Reference to the carpenter (*takṣan* or *taṣṭṛ*) and his tools may be traced back to the *Ṛgveda*⁴. The art of the carpenter had attained a high skill by the time of the Pāli canonical and other texts. There we find the *vaḍḍhaki* engaged in all kinds of wood-work including ship-building, the making of carts and chariots, the manufacture of machines and house-building¹. To the absolute perfection of the craft in Maurya times we have a surviving testimony in the shape of the mysterious wooden platforms that have been recently dug up in the vicinity of Patna². The excellent sculpture of Aśoka's time is admittedly modelled upon the much older art of the indigenous craftsmen in wood and ivory.

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⁴ See *Vedic Index*, s.v.

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s.v. *vaḍḍhaki*. : also cf. *Jāt.* ii. 18 (for house-building) : v. 159 : vi. 427 (for ship-building) : iv. 207 (for carts and chariots) : v. 242 (for machines).

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² *Ann. Rep. Arch. Surv. Ind.*, 1912-13, pp. 53 ff.

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Reference has just been made to the Indian ivory-worker. The Indians have excelled in ivory-work from early times down to the present. Specially, in the *Jātakas* we are introduced to various ornamental and useful articles prepared from this costly material³. The use of ivory ear-rings is noted by Arrian (*Indica* xvi) as a characteristic of very wealthy Indians.

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³ See P. T. S Dict., s.v. *danta* cf. *Jāt.* v. 302 (for ivory handle of a glass mirror) : vi. 223 (for an ivory chariot).

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Another industry in which Indians have distinguished themselves in ancient and mediaeval as in modern times is stone-cutting. In the *Jātakas* the stone-cutter (*pāsāṇa-koṭṭaka*) is found engaged in building houses with the materials of a ruined village, in hollowing a cavity in a block of the purest crystal and so forth⁴. The wonderful stone pillars of Aśoka's reign are standing examples of the unsurpassed skill of the stone-cutters of the age. 'The art of polishing hard stone,' as Vincent Smith observes⁵, 'was carried to such perfection that it is said to have become a lost art beyond modern powers.' The 'Mauryan polish' is seen at its best in the walls of the Barabar caves of the hardest gneiss rock, which are burnished like glass mirrors.

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⁴ *Jāt.*, I, 470.

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⁵ *Oxford History of India*, Part I, 2nd ed., p. 113.

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The use of deer and goat skins for clothing is as old as the *Ṛigveda*⁶. The leather-worker and his handiwork of various kinds are referred to in the early Buddhist literature⁷. Kauṭilya's *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 11) shows knowledge of a wide variety of skins (*charma*) distinguished by their place of origin as well as colour and size. It is interesting to observe that the principal varieties are said to be products of various Himalayan regions. In the description of the Indian dress by Arrian (*Indica* xvi), to which we have referred above, we have an incidental allusion to the skill of the Indian leather-worker. ‘The Indians,’ we are told, ‘wear shoes made of white leather and these are elaborately trimmed, while the soles are variegated.’

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⁶ See *Vedic Index*, s.v. *ajina*.

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⁷ See P. T S Dict., s.v. *upāhānā* and *chamma* : cf. also *Jāt.* ii. 153 (for traps of leather) : iii. 79 (for single soled shoes) : iii. 116 and vi. 431 (for leather sacks) : vi. 454 (for leather shield). etc.

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India has always been famous for its trees producing fragrant wood. Several varieties such as *chandana*, *agalu* and *tagara* are mentioned in the Pāli canonical texts and the *Jātakas*¹. Kauṭilya (ii. 11) mentions five kinds of fragrant wood, *viz.*, *chandana*, *aguru*, *taila-parṇika*, *bhadraśrī*, and *kāleyaka*. These are further distinguished according to their place of origin, colour, fragrance and so forth. To judge from the commentator’s identification, many of these varieties came from Kāmarūpa, while other kinds came from Ceylon, the Himalayan region and the like.

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s.v.

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The use of metals may be traced back to the Indus people of pre-historic times. The Vedic Indians were acquainted with a large variety of metals, *viz.* gold (*chandra*, *jātarūpa*, *hiraṇya*, *suvarṇa*, *harita*), silver (*rajata*), iron (*kṛṣṇāyasa*, *śyāma*), copper (*lohitāyasa*, *loha*), lead (*sīsa*) and tin (*trapu*). Mention is also made of gold and silver ornaments as well as ordinary metalware². The *Jātakas* refer not only to numerous metals including brass and bronze, but also to the manufacture of ornaments from precious metals and that of domestic and agricultural implements from baser ones³. Kauṭilya (ii. 12) specifies the characteristics of various metallic ores including gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron and *vaikṛntaka* (unidentified). What is more, he refers to technical sciences dealing with veins of ore and metals, to the art of smelting metals and so forth⁴. In this connection, reference is made to the manufacture of copper, lead, tin, bronze, brass, iron and other wares. In the following chapters (ii. 13 and 14), Kauṭilya deals with the characteristic qualities of several varieties of gold and silver together with the methods of their testing and purification, as well as the technical processes of their manufacture. These striking references may be taken effectually to dispose of the strange verdict of a Greek writer who, while describing the richness of the country in gold and silver mines, observes: ‘Nevertheless the Indians, inexperienced in the art of mining and smelting, do not even know their own resources, but set about their business in too primitive a way¹.’

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² See *Vedic Index*, s.v., and *ibid*, English index, s.v. *metals and ornaments* for references.

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³ See *Jāt.* i. 351 : iv. 60, 85, 296 etc.

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⁴ *Sulba-dhātulāstra-rasa-pāka-maṇirāga* in the original, rendered as above by Meyer. The translation of Shamasastry is inaccurate.

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¹ Strabo xv. 1.31.

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As regards the period of the Nandas and the Mauryas, we have positive evidence testifying to the skill of the Indian metal worker. From this standpoint the bare observation of Diodorus (ii. 36) based no doubt on Megasthenes, *viz.* that the Indians employed their rich store of metals in manufacturing articles of use and ornaments is not of much moment. More significant is the fact that among the presents offered to Alexander by the Mālavas and their allies were included a hundred talents of ‘white iron’ (*ferrum candidum*). This has been generally taken to mean steel, although Cunningham² identified it with nickel. Of the copper work of the Maurya times, an excellent specimen has survived in the shape of a solid copper bolt which was found in the Aśokan pillar at Rampurva and was evidently used for fixing the colossal lion-capital to the pillar itself³. The Greek contemporary accounts also testify to the precious metal-work used in the royal court. In Strabo’s description (xv. 1.69) of the Indian festive processions to which we have referred above, we read how the great host of royal attendants carried ‘vessels of gold such as large basins and goblets six feet in breadth,’ as well as ‘drinking cups and lavers all made of Indian copper and set many of them with precious stones,—emeralds, beryls, and Indian garnets.’ Similarly Curtius, in describing the king’s public appearance, states how the royal attendants ‘carry in their hands silver censers’, while the king himself ‘lolls in a golden palanquin furnished with pearls which dangle all around it.’

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² Num. Chron., xiii (1873), pp. 188 ff.

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³ For a description of the copper-bolt with an accompanying photograph, see Panchanan Neogi, *Copper in Ancient India*. pp. 18-20.

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The use of jewellery may be traced back to the Indus peoples of prehistoric times. The profession of a jeweller (*maṇikāra*) is referred to in the *Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā* and the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa*¹. Coming to post-Vedic times, we find the *Jātakas* referring to pearls, crystals and jewels as well as the art of cutting and polishing gems for ornaments². Kauṭilya (ii. 11) shows acquaintance with pearls (*muktika*), jewels (*maṇi*), diamonds (*vajra*) and corals (*pravāla*) of Indian as well as foreign origin. What is more, he carefully notes the characteristics of good and bad pearls as well as the different colours and qualities of rubies, beryls, sapphires, crystals, diamonds and corals. The skill of the manufacturing jeweller is indicated by the fact that Kauṭilya mentions no less that five varieties of pearl necklaces (*yaṣṭi*) which are sub-divided into other classes. In a postscript, he adds that the same varieties apply to the ornaments for the head, arms, feet and waist. Coming definitely to the Nanda-Maurya times we find that the Indian love of ornaments is pointedly referred to by a Greek writer³.

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¹ See *Vedic Index*. s.v.

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² Cf. *Jāt.* i. 351, 479 : ii. 6 : iv. 60, 85, 296 : vi. 117-20, 279.

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³ See Strabo xv, 1.

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We have not space enough to describe the other industries to which the *Jātakas* and other records of this period bear witness, such as the manufacture of dyes, gums, drugs and perfumes, as well as that of pottery. But a word may be said about the manufacture of implements and weapons of war. Offensive and defensive weapons like the bow and the arrow, the sword and the spear, the helmet and the coat of mail are known from Vedic times⁴. Later in the *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 18), we find mention of bows and arrows made of different materials along with different kinds of swords, axes, spears and the like. The *Arthaśāstra* also refers to two classes of war machines, viz. immovable (*sthitayantrāṇi*) and movable (*chala-yantrāṇi*), the first consisting of ten and the second of seventeen named varieties. The Greek accounts relating specifically to the Nanda-Maurya times bear out these observations. According to Arrian (*Indica* xvi), the Indian foot-soldiers were armed with bows and javelins as well as broad-bladed swords, while the horsemen carried two lances. In the list of presents offered by the Mālavas and their allies to Alexander were included 1050 (or, according to another account, 500) four-horsed chariots and 1000 bucklers.

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⁴ See *Vedic Index*, English index, s.v. war for references.

Trade

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By the time of the early Buddhist literature the Indians had developed an extensive system of inland trade which was borne along well-known trade-routes. These routes were marked by convenient stages and served to link up the most distant parts of the country with one another. Among them we may mention specifically the following :—

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1. East to west. This most important route ran principally along the great rivers. From Champā boats plied up to Benares, the great industrial and trading centre of those times. From Benares they led up the Ganges as far as Sahajāti and up the Jumna as far as Kauśāmbi. Further west the route led by land-tracts to Sindhu, famous for its breed of horses and Sauvīra (‘Sophir’ or ‘Ophir’ of the Old Testament ?).

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2. North to south-west. This route extended from Śrāvastī, the famous capital of Kosala, to Pratiṣṭhāna on the Godāvarī and the stations lying on it in the reverse direction included Ujjayinī, Vidiśā and Kauśāmbi.

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3. North to south-east. Along this route which ran from Śrāvastī to Rājagṛiha lay a number of stations including Kapilavastu, Vaiśālī, Pāṭaliputra and Nālandā.

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4. North-west route, also referred to by Pāṇini¹. It stretched along the land of the Five Rivers to the great highways of Central and Western Asia.

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¹ V. 1.17 :—*Uttarapathenāhṛtam ca*.

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We also hear of merchants travelling from Kashmir and Gandhāra to Videha, from Benares to Ujjayinī, from Magadha to Sauvīra and so forth². What vast wealth accrued from this system of inland trade is illustrated by references to merchant princes like Anāthapiṇḍika of Śrāvastī whose trading connections extended to Rājagṛiha on the one side and Kāśī on the other. Nevertheless, the path of the trader was anything but easy. Not only were the roads (specially through the forests) infested by robbers against whom the merchants protected themselves by hiring the services of forest-guards, but the deserts had to be crossed at night with the help of land-pilots (*thala-niyāmaka*) guiding the caravan by the stars. Associated with the wilderness was a host of real and imaginary dangers viz., drought, famine, wild beasts, robbers and demons. Some of the roads were already distinguished as 'royal' or 'great' roads (*rājapatha* or *mahāmagga*) unlike the ordinary bye-paths (*upapatha*). But the rivers were not bridged and had to be crossed by ferries. The overland as well as oversea trade likewise attracted the attention of Indian merchants. The Pāli canonical texts speak of voyages lasting six months in ships (*nāvā*) which could be drawn up on shore in the winter¹. The *Jātakas*, above all, have preserved memories of voyages of daring Indian merchants beyond the seas and lands to distant countries of the east and west. References are made in these works to merchants voyaging from Champā or even Benares to the mysterious land of Suvarṇabhūmi which has been proved to be a generic title in those days for Burma, the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago. We hear even of merchants voyaging from the great western seaport Bharukachchha to the same destination, obviously *via* a Ceylonese port. Indeed, Ceylon (Tambapaṇṇi) at that time was 'another bourne of oversea commerce'. We also learn how another body of merchants travelled from Benares to Bāveru (Babylon)². An interesting sidelight is thrown upon the methods of Indian navigation by the reference to the direction-giving crows (*disā-kāka*) showing the navigators as they flew towards the land, in what direction lay the coast³. This practice, as has been remarked⁴, was also known to the sea-faring Babylonians and Phoenicians of early times.

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² Cf. *Jāt.* ii. 248 : iii. 365 : *Vimānavatthu* commentary 370 etc.

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¹ Cf. *Saṃ. N.* III p. 155 : *Ibid.* v p. 51 : *Aṅg. N.* iv. p. 127.

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² Cf. *Jāt.* iv. 15-7 : vi. 34 : iii. 126 ff.

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³ Cf. *Jāt.* iii. 126-7, 267 etc.

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⁴ See Fick. *op. cit.*, Eng. tr. p. 269.

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The references in Kauṭilya's *Arthaśāstra*, scattered and incidental as they are, register some advance in the conditions of trade above described. Active encouragement of trade on the part of the State is proved by the care with which Kauṭilya provides for the construction and security of trade-routes and the foundations of market-towns in his scheme of State colonisation of the country-part. Elsewhere (ii. 4), the largest scale of width—eight *daṇḍas* as compared with the usual four *daṇḍas*—is prescribed for roads leading to the market-towns (*saṃyānīya patha*). Intelligent appreciation of the importance of trade-routes is shown by the discussion in *Arthaśāstra* circles (vii. 12) of the relative advantages of different types of trade-routes from the standpoint of their conduciveness to commerce. Such are the pairs: land and water-routes, water-routes along the coast and through mid-water, the Himalayan and the southern land-routes. In comparing the last pair, the *Arthaśāstra* authors give us a valuable, though far from exhaustive, list of the imports borne along both routes evidently to the Ganges valley. According to an un-named teacher quoted by Kauṭilya, the costlier merchandise consisting of elephants, horses, fragrant products, tusks, skins, gold and silver were more plentiful in the Himalayas. In Kauṭilya's opinion, on the other hand, the merchandise other than blankets, skins and horses, and consisting of conch-shells, diamonds, jewels, pearls and gold, was more plentiful in the South. For the rest, the remarkable lists of agricultural, manufacturing and other products of different lands which Kauṭilya mentions (ii. 11-12) testify to the extent as well as the objects of India's internal and foreign trade. Among these products are found textiles of Bengal, Assam, Benares, the Konkan and Pāṇḍya, the silks of China, the woollens of Nepal, the skins of the Himalayan regions, the fragrant wood of Assam, Ceylon (?) and the Himalayas, the gems of Ceylon (?), Alakanda and Vivarna (unidentified) and the like¹.

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¹ It is interesting to recall Pāṇini's *sūtra* vi. 2.13 referring to the practice of merchants being named from the countries which they visited. The late *Kāśikā* commentary gives the following illustrations of the above :— *Madra-vāṇija*, *Kaśmīra-vāṇija* and *Gandhāra-vāṇija*.

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All indications point to the fact that the rise of the Nandas and the Mauryas helped greatly to improve India's inland and foreign trade. The liberation of the Indus valley, and still more the repulse of Seleucus, gave Chandragupta Maurya complete control over the coveted north-western route to which we have referred above. With the conquest of the Deccan by Chandragupta Maurya or Bindusāra, the possession of the equally, or still more, valuable western and southern routes was ensured to the Mauryas. The conquest of Kaliṅga by Aśoka destroyed the only possible rival for the mastery of the eastern trade. While the Mauryas thus brought all the great inland trade-routes under the control of a highly centralised and efficient administration, their rule was helpful for the growth of trade in other ways. That the Mauryas had a special department for the construction of roads is proved by Megasthenes' reference (quoted, Strabo xv.1.50) to the duties of officers called Agoranomoi ('market commissioners'). They had, among other duties, to 'construct roads and at every ten stadia set up a pillar to show the bye-roads and distances.' The most renowned of the imperial roads of these times was 'the Royal Road' connecting the North-West Frontier with Pāṭaliputra and leading thence to the mouths of the Ganges. The stages of this first Indian Grand Trunk Road together with their distances have been recorded by the Roman writer Pliny in his encyclopaedic work called *Natural History* (vi. 21). His somewhat confused account may be summed up in the following table¹ :-

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¹ For a useful summary of the discussion relating to Pliny's account see McCrindle, *Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian*, Calcutta ed., pp. 130-34. Arrian (*Indica*, ch. iii) quotes Eratosthenes to say that the Royal Road was measured by *schoeni*. According to Pliny, (Arrian's *Indica*, E. J. Chinnock's tr. p. 401n) the *schoenus* was reckoned by Eratosthenes at 40 stadia (about five miles). Strabo (*Geography* xv. 1.11) mentions measurement of the Royal Road 'with necessary lines', which by a slight emendation of the text may be taken to mean 'in terms of the *schoenus*' (Loeb's Classical Library ed., Vol. viii. p. 17n).

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| | Roman miles |
| From Peucelaotis (Pushkarāvati) to the Indus | 60 |
| Thence to the Hydaspes (Jhelum) .. | 60 |
| Thence to the Hyphasis (Beas) .. | 270 |
| From the Hyphasis to the Hesidrus (Sutlej) | 168 |
| From the Hesidrus to the Jomanes (Jumna) | 168 (*sic*) |
| From the Jomanes to the Ganges .. | 112 |
| From the Ganges to Rhodopha (unidentified) | 119 |
| From Rhodopha to Kalinipaxa (unidentified) | 167 (or 265) |
| From Kalinipaxa to the confluence of the | |
| Jomanes and the Ganges .. .. | 625 (*sic*) |

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From the confluence to Palibothra . . 425 (sic) From Palibothra to the mouths of the Ganges 638

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We have reasons to believe that the ancient foreign trade of India, like its inland trade, benefited by the strong and efficient administration of the Mauryas. The wise policy of friendship with the Hellenistic powers started by Chandragupta Maurya after the repulse of Seleucus and maintained by his son and grandson, must have favoured the expansion of the Indian trade with West Asia and Egypt. It is interesting to learn from Greek classical sources that the main commerce between the early Seleucid Empire and India was borne partly by the land-route (the northern one passing through Bactria and the southern through Gedrosia and Carmania, Persis and Susiana) and partly by the sea-route (through Gerrha on the west coast of the Persian Gulf). Like the Indian route to Egypt stretching along the east shore of the Red Sea, the route through the Persian Gulf was controlled by powerful Arab tribes engaged in a highly developed trade¹. How valuable was this western trade to India will appear from the list of her exports into Egypt, which, according to Greek classical sources, consisted of ivory, tortoise-shell, pearls, pigments and dyes (specially indigo), nard, costum, malabathron and rare woods². It is probably in the light of this extensive commerce with western lands that we have to understand Aśoka's ambitious attempt to extend the benefits of his religious and humanitarian propaganda to the Hellenistic kingdoms almost to their furthest limits. To the mutual knowledge and understanding derived from long-continued commercial intercourse, again, we may probably attribute the success which attended Aśoka's mission to Ceylon and, if this can be taken to be authentic, the mission of Soṇa and Uttara to Suvaṇṇabhūmi (Further India).

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¹ For references see Rostovtzeff, *The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World*, p. 457.

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² Rostovtzeff, *op. cit.*, pp. 386-7. We have an interesting reminiscence of Indians sharing in this western trade in a story narrated by Posidonius and quoted by Strabo in his *Geography* (ii. 3.4). According to this story while Euergetes II (145-116 B.C.) was reigning in Egypt, an Indian being stranded on the shore of the Arabian Sea was brought to Alexandria and having learnt Greek gave the Court information of the sea-route to India. Then the king sent out an expedition under Eudoxus of Cyzicus. The expedition set out probably in the last years of Euergetes II and returned heavily laden with goods. Equal success attended a second expedition sent out under the same captain in the following reign. It has been recently suggested on good grounds that the discovery of the monsoon attributed to Hippalus in the literary records was made by Eudoxus himself who probably derived his information from the stranded Indian merchant and undertook his first expedition with his help. On the whole subject, see Rostovtzeff, *op. cit.* pp. 926, 927, 929.

The Organisation of Industry and Trade

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The organisation of crafts and trades in some forms of association was known from early times. In so far as the crafts are concerned, we find in the *Jātakas* that sons ordinarily, if not invariably, followed the occupations of their father, while the industries used to be localised in towns and villages, and the separate crafts had frequently a *pamukha* (president) or *jeṭṭha* (alderman) presiding over them. These three features, as Fick observed long ago¹, point to an organisation similar to that of the craft-guilds in mediaeval Europe. The *Jātakas* in fact refer to eighteen *seṇis* (guilds), mentioning four by name, viz., those of woodcutters, smiths, leather dressers and painters². As regards the organisation of trade, the *Jātakas* refer to *sattha-vāhas* whose directions were obeyed by the caravans along the trade-routes as well as to *pamukhas* and *jeṭṭhas* of the separate trades. We also hear of disputes between guilds being decided by a *mahāseṭṭhi* who acted practically as 'chief alderman over the aldermen of the guilds'³. The early *Dharmaśāstras* and the *Arthaśāstra* register a somewhat advanced stage of development. From an oft-quoted passage (xi 1) of Gautama's *Dharmasūtra* supposed to be the oldest of the existing *Dharmasūtras*, we learn that traders and artisans along with others had the authority to lay down rules for their respective classes. Of the *Saṅghas* ('corporations') described by Kauṭilya (xi. 1), who were ruled by *mukhyas* ('executive officers'), one class consisted of certain specified and unspecified groups living by *vārtā* (agriculture, cattle-breeding and trade) as well as by *śastra* (fighting). Elsewhere (ii. 7, iii. 1, viii. 4 etc.) Kauṭilya refers to *śreṇis* (guilds) organised under *mukhyas*, which were thought to be sufficiently important for their customs to be recorded in official registers and were otherwise a factor to be reckoned with in the working of the State administration.

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¹ The Social Organisation in North-east India in Buddha's time (Eng. tr. of Die Social Gliederung in Nordostlichen Indian zu Buddhas zeit), pp. 177-183.

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² Cf. Jāt. i. 267, 314 : iii. 281 : iv. 411 : vi 22.

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³ Cf. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 97.

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The industrial and commercial *śreṇis* and *saṅghas* we have described above represent the type of guild organisation under which there could be little scope for a separate class of wage-earners as distinguished from producers. But already in these times we hear of another type of organisation involving the employment of hired labourers by the capitalists. The *Jātakas* make frequent references to free labourers working for hire (*kammakara* and *bhatakas*) often along with slaves (*dāsas*) and servants (*pessas*)¹. Kauṭilya (iii. 13-14) not only refers to free labourers (*karmakaras* and *bhṛtakas*) along with slaves (*dāsas*), but gives a whole body of laws for regulating their work and wages. That the free labourers along with slaves formed an important element of the population in Maurya times is proved by Aśoka including the kind treatment of *dāsas* and *bhatakas* among the constituent qualities of his *dhamma* (R. E. ix, xi etc.)

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s.v. Also cf. Fick, *op. cit.* pp. 303-4.

State Industrial and Commercial Policy

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No account of the economic conditions of the Nanda-Maurya times will be complete without some reference to the policy pursued by the State in relation to industry and trade. We may begin by noticing some features of the traditional policy in these respects as reflected in the *Arthaśāstra*. That the active encouragement of industry and commerce was contemplated as a duty of the State is illustrated by the measures included in Kauṭilya's scheme of State colonisation of rural areas (ii. 1) : they include the working of mines and forests, the construction and security of trade-routes and the foundation of market-towns. In this connection the king is enjoined to secure trade-routes from obstruction by his favourites (*vallabhas*), officers (*kārmikas*) and frontier guards (*anta-pālas*) as well as by thieves and animal herds—a list sufficiently instructive as putting the danger from the King's officers on a level with that caused by thieves and animals. How fully the industrial and commercial classes were associated with the royal court and capital is proved by the immediately following rules (ii. 4) relating to the planned settlement of the fortified capital (*durga*). According to this description which, by the way, illustrates the relative social status of different groups of artisans and traders in the times concerned, the dealers in scents, garlands, paddy etc. and the chief artisans should live along with Kshatriyas to the east of the royal palace. The dealers in cooked food, liquors and flesh should live along with Vaiśyas to the south. The manufacturers of woollen and cotton goods, the armour-makers etc. should live along with Śūdras on the west. The manufacturers of base metals and precious stones should live along with Brāhmaṇas on the north.

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Not only did the State associate itself closely with the trading and industrial classes, but it also undertook manufactures and trading on its own account¹. What is more, the rules of the *Arthaśāstra* repeatedly show how thoroughly the agricultural, mineral and other resources of the State were understood to be the sources of its strength. Thus among the qualities of a good country are included (vi. 1) the possession of agricultural tracts, mines, forests of various kinds, land and waterways and the like. Very characteristic again, is the general rule of foreign policy (vii. 1) stating that the king should follow that one of the six-fold forms by which he can exploit his own mines and forests and obstruct those of his enemy. No wonder, then, that the nice balancing of the advantages of working tracts rich in mines and in food grains, of working mines yielding a precious but small output and those producing inferior but large output, of working trade-routes by land and water and so forth, formed the subject of keen discussion in *Arthaśāstra* circles dealing with questions of foreign policy (vii. 11-12).

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¹ For examples see *Contributions to the History of the Hindu Revenue System*, pp. 73, 77, 90-1, 106 8. In the chapter (v. 3) describing what may be called the expenses of the king's establishment, we have the following rates of pay :- Carpenters—2,000 *paṇas*. Skilled and unskilled craftsmen—120 *paṇas*.

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Another aspect of State industrial policy in these times is that relating to the strict control of artisans and traders. We have in the *Arthaśāstra* a whole Section (Section iv) significantly called ‘*Removal of Thorns*’ (*kaṇṭaka śodhanam*), which describes successively the measures to be taken by the king for securing the people against artisans and merchants, against natural calamities, against persons living by clandestine means and so forth. In thorough accord with this attitude is the fact that elsewhere (iv. 1), Kauṭilya characterises merchants, artisans and some other specified classes as thieves in fact, though not in name. In the class of artisans just mentioned, are included weavers, washermen, goldsmiths, workers in copper and other metals, physicians, actors, minstrels and beggars. How drastically paternal the State regulations for protection of the public against these classes sometimes might be, is proved by a number of examples. Not only is a differential scale of wages fixed for weaving different kinds of cloth, but fines and other penalties are prescribed for reduction in their weight and measures. Fines are also prescribed for washermen washing clothes elsewhere than on wooden planks or on smooth stone, for wearing clothes other than those marked with a cudgel, for selling, mortgaging or hiring clothes of others, and even for delay in returning the clothes. Wages at varying rates are laid down for dyeing different qualities of cloth. A scale of penalties is laid down for physicians failing in or neglecting the treatment of diseases.

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The measures for public security (iv. 2) against traders partake of the same character. We read that such old wares as are of proved ownership should be sold or mortgaged at the market-place (panya-saṁsthā) under supervision of the market-superintendent (saṁsthādhyakṣa). A graduated scale of fines is prescribed for deficiency in weights and measures. There is a similar scale of fines for exceeding the profit-limit of five per cent permitted on home-grown merchandise and of ten per cent allowed on foreign merchandise. In a later chapter of the same section (iv. 4) dealing with lost and stolen property, we are pointedly told that the sale or mortgage of old wares should not be carried out without informing the market-superintendent. It is characteristic of Kauṭilya’s attitude towards traders (vaidehaka) that unlike an unnamed Arthaśāstra authority whom he quotes, he thinks (viii.4) the oppression from traders to be worse even than that caused by the Guardian of the Frontier (antapāla).

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On the other hand it is only fair to add that the State in these times also took special steps to protect the artisans and merchants. For theft of small articles belonging to artisans and craftsmen, Kauṭilya prescribes (iv. 10) fines as high as 100 paṇas. Elsewhere (iv. 13) he lays down elaborate rules for compensating merchants (*sārthika*) for theft or robbery of their merchandise during their journeys.

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The Mauryas followed the traditional State policy in relation to industry and trade at least in some important respects. We have already seen what care they bestowed upon the construction of roads through a special class of officers called *Agoranomoi* by Megasthenes. That they established State manufactures on their own account is proved by Megasthenes' reference to his fourth Indian caste, viz. that of artisans. Speaking of this class, Diodorus (ii. 41) says that they were not only exempted from paying taxes, but even received maintenance from the Royal exchequer. More guardedly Arrian (*Indica* Ch. xii) states that while handicraftsmen and retail dealers pay tribute, an exception is made in favour of makers of weapons of war, ship-builders and sailors, who even draw pay from the State. Evidently, the artisans maintained by the State were employed on government service. What strict control was maintained by the Maurya government over the artisans and merchants alike of the country-side and of the capital is proved by other statements of Megasthenes. We learn that the *Agoranomoi* had among other duties, to superintend crafts connected with land such as those of the wood-cutters, carpenters, blacksmiths and miners. Again, the officers known as *Astynomoi* ('city commissioners') were divided into six boards. Of these the fourth 'is that which has to do with sales and barter, and these look after the measure, and the fruits of the season, that the latter may be sold by stamp': the fifth 'is that of those who have charge of the works made by artisans and sell these by stamps, the new apart from the old'¹. We have elsewhere² given reasons for identifying Megasthenes' officers in charge of measures with Kauṭilya's *pautavādhyaksha* ('superintendent of weights and measures') and *saṁsthādhyaksha* ('market superintendent'), while connecting 'the stamp' mentioned by the Greek writer with the *abhijñāna-mudrā*, which according to *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 27) was given by the *antapāla* to incoming traders. We have finally to mention in the present place another reference suggesting that the person of the artisans was protected by a special law unlike the general rule of law known to the *Arthaśāstra*. According to Strabo (xv. 1.54), if a person caused the loss of a hand or an eye to a craftsman, he was put to death. This is a severe departure from the milder rule of law in the *Arthaśāstra* (iii. 19) imposing fines alone for the same offences.

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¹ Strabo. xv. 1.50-51, tr. the Loeb Classical Library, Vol. vii, pp. 83-4.

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² *Contributions to the History of the Hindu Revenue System*, p. 117.

Currency

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Long before the rise of the Nandas and the Mauryas India had evolved her own monetary system based on the indigenous standards. The Vedic *nishka*, *śatamāna* and *suvarṇa* may have been ingots of gold of definite weights. But in later works such as the *Jātakas*, the grammar of Pāṇini and the *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya, we have definite references to gold coins called *nishka* and *suvarṇa*, silver coins called *kārshāpaṇas* or *dharaṇas* and copper coins also called *kārshāpaṇas*, along with their multiples and sub-divisions. The Vedic *śatamāna*, as its name implies, was based on the *māna* unit, a weight known to the *Ṛigveda*. In later times the *māna* was changed for the lighter unit called *kṛishṇala* or *rati*, the seed of the *guñja*-berry. The weight of the gold *suvarṇa* in the *Arthaśāstra* as well as in Manu and Yājñavalkya is given as 80 *guñjas* or *ratis*, the copper *kārshāpaṇa* according to Manu and Yājñavalkya also weighing 80 *ratis*. The weight of the silver *dharaṇas* in the *Arthaśāstra*, however, amounts very nearly to 80 *ratis*, while in Manu and Yājñavalkya it is only 32 *ratis*¹. As Professor Rapson has well observed², the silver and copper coinages in Ancient India were often independent of each other, with different areas of circulation. In the *Arthaśāstra*, however, the silver *paṇa* with its sub-divisions is evidently recognised as the standard coin, while the copper *māshaka* with its divisions ranks as a token currency. Apparently copper was linked up with silver in such a way that the *māshaka* was one-sixteenth in value of the silver *paṇa*, its weight varying with the ratio between the two metals³.

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¹ On the antiquity of the Indian coinage and its evolution, see D. R. Bhandarkar, *Ancient Indian Numismatics*, Lecture ii : S. K. Chakravorty, *Ancient Indian Numismatics*, Chs. ii. and iv. On the origin of the 32 rati standard fo silver coins, see Bhandarkar *op. cit.*, pp. 93-4 and specially Chakravorty *op. cit.*, pp. 43 ff.

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² Catalogue of Indian Coins in the British Museum, p. clxxix.

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³ Chakravorty, *op. cit.*, 56-8.

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The punch-marked silver coins that have been found in large numbers all over India have been identified on all hands with the silver *kārshāpaṇas*, *dharaṇas* or *purāṇas* of the Smṛitis and the *Arthaśāstra*. Some classes of these coins have been traced back to pre-Mauryan times. Thus a distinctive class of such coins, which was found some years ago in a deposit at Paila in the Kheri district of the Uttar Pradesh, has been generally identified as the local currency of the independent Kosala kingdom before its absorption by Magadha. These coins bear four obverse marks instead of the usual five, among which is included the four-spoked wheel in place of the usual five-spoked one. They are of the reduced standard of 24 to 30 *ratis* in place of the theoretical 32 *ratis*¹. Of the punch-marked silver coins bearing the usual number of five obverse marks, two distinct classes assignable to as many distinct periods have been recovered from recent excavations on the site of Taxila. The Older Class is dated *circa* 317 B.C. by the presence in its midst of gold coins of Alexander and his half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus 'in mint condition,' while the date of the Later Class is fixed at *circa* 248 B.C. by the occurrence of a coin of Diodotus in the same deposit. The two classes are distinguished from each other by their fabric as well as symbols, though equally approximating to the standard of 32 *ratis*. The Older (pre-Maurya) Class consists of large thin pieces unlike the small thick coins of the Later (Maurya) Class. The obverse marks of the Older Class are conspicuously lacking in the distinctive Maurya symbols ('hill and crescent' as well as 'peacock'). It seems to be generally agreed that some coins of the Older Class go back to the 4th or even the 5th century B.C.². On the other hand, it must be admitted that the symbolism and metrology of the silver punch-marked coins are still an unsolved problem¹.

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¹ On the above see Durga Prasad, *Num. Supp.* xlvii. p. 77 ; Walsh. *JNSI.*, No. ii. p. 15-26 : *JRAS.* 1937, pp. 300-303. Walsh gives the average weight of the Paila hoard as 25 *ratis*, but see D. D. Kosambi, *NIA.* iv. p. 56.

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² Thus Durga Prasad, *Num. Supp.* xlv. Pl. viii and ibid, xlvii, pp. 78—9, takes some early silver punch-marked coins to go back to the kingdom of Magadha shortly after Buddha's time. According to Walsh (*JBORS.* 1937, pp. 303-4), some very old coins of the Taxila Hoard which were re-stamped for circulation may go back to 200 years or more before the date of the deposit, viz., c. 317 B.C. More recently D. D. Kosambi (*op. cit.*, pp. 60-6) premising that the early coins of Taxila were imported from the east, assigns some select types on the basis of his interpretation of the obverse marks to Saiśunāga and Nanda kings.

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