The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c17.3

c17.3

In the lawbooks we find the rule that the kings could make the artisans work one day in the month for him;¹ the Jâtakas know nothing of this; on the other hand, artisans are mentioned who seem to have worked only for him. In the Kusa Jâtaka there appear three distinct artisans in the pay of the king in the following order: a court potter (râja-kumbhakâra V. 290)—we meet with one in the Cullakaseṭṭhi Jâtaka (I. 121), where it is described how he seeks on horseback to burn pots for the royal court—a basketmaker (râjupaṭṭhâka naḷakâra. V. 291) in the king's service and a court gardener (râjamâlakâra V. 292). The designation of these as "court purveyors" seems to me to refer to a special position which raises them above their otherwise low or even despised rank and makes improbable their being members of a corporation, in the same way as in the case of the barber working in the royal court whose occupation as barber ranked certainly among the lowest professions. This court barber was no unimportant person in the king's court, he sometimes even stands in friendly intercourse with his employer.¹ "Friend," (samma kappaka I. 137) so addresses the king in the Makhâdeva Jâtaka his barber, while asking the latter to inform him if he finds any grey hair on his head. The many small personal services for which people wanted him—as such there are mentioned in the introduction to the Sigâla Jâtaka (II. 5), shaving the beard, curling the hair, placing the dice-board in position, etc.—seem to have made him indispensable for the king, the royal ladies, the princes and princesses. Also the position of a court barber is sometimes described as highly lucrative: in the Makhâdeva Jâtaka it is narrated that the Videha king when he renounces worldly life gives a village to his barber which brought him 100,000 (satasahassuṭṭhānaṃ gāmavaraṃ. I. 138).