The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c17.11

c17.11

128). Whilst, moreover, these skilled men in ancient India, as we shall see, were of little respectability and the arts practised by them were mostly unprofitable, the artists in the service of the king did not seem to have been from the pecuniary point of view in a bad way. An archer demands from the king an annual salary of 100,000 (ekasaṃvaccharena satasahassam, II. 87). The king agrees to this; on the other hand, the old archers (porāṇaka-dhanuggaha) consider the salary too high. Still better paid is another dhanuggaha; he receives daily 1,000 (devasikaṃ sahassam labhitvā rājānaṃ upaṭṭhahi, V. 128) and incurs in this way the displeasure of the rest of the king’s servants. These figures, though, as everywhere in Indian sources, bad as a statistical material, point to a respectable and lucrative profession. Probably the archer was entitled to high salaries, as he could render the king valuable services, whether in hunting or in war.