Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s5.5

c12.s5.5

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).