Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c9.s2.14

c9.s2.14

Like craft-guilds there were merchant leagues also which included river and sea-going merchants and the caravan traders. We come across frequently caravans of carts laden with goods travelling across the country. There was a caravan leader (*satthavāha*) who used to lead his caravan slowly by the road flanked with stalls and villages, encamping at the proper places.¹¹ A *satthavāha* was considered as an important state officer who was expert in archery and administration,¹² and who with the permission of the king used to lead a caravan with various merchandise.¹³ We frequently meet caravan leaders proclaiming publicly that those who accompanied them on the trip would be provided with food, drinks, clothes, utensils and medicines free of charge.¹⁴ The insecure condition of the roads and the attack by organised band of robbers in those days necessitated a sort of co-operation among the travelling merchants and so they appointed one man as their leader.