The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c16.17

c16.17

The insecurity of the road made the business of a satthavāha at that time very troublesome and dangerous. Organized bands of robbers—in the Sattigumba Jātaka a village containing five hundred robbers is mentioned (coragāmaka IV. 430), at its head stands the "oldest among the robbers (corajeṭṭhaka II. 388)—lay in wait for the travelling tradesmen, especially in the forest, and forced them to employ armed men who for a salary led the caravans through the dangerous places.¹ Still the tradesmen were compensated for the troubles and dangers of caravan traffic by the great profit which, according to the Jātakas, they made; in the Vaṇṇupatha Jātaka it is stated that the caravan-leaders got twice or thrice their dues on the sale of their wares (bhaṇḍaṃ vikkiṇitvā dviguṇaṃ catugguṇaṃ bhogaṃ labhitvā, I. 109).