The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.172

c14.172

Moreover, we make the acquaintance of such a Brâhmaṇa merchant-prince in the Mahâsutasoma Jātaka who being in possession of great wealth engages in trade, as he sends five hundred wagons from the east to the west (sampannavibhavo brâhmaṇo pañcahi sakatasathi vohâraṃ karonto pubbantato aparantaṃ sañcarati V. 471). Along with this, we also read of Brâhmaṇa tradesmen who roam about the country, selling their wares. A hawker like this is the father of the Bodhisatta of whom it is said in the Gagga Jātaka that he was re-born in a Brâhmaṇa family in the kingdom of Kâsi and that in his sixteenth year his father gave him a bundle of water-pots which they used to sell in the villages and the country markets (II. 15).