History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.82
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.82
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v2.c20.82.1
*Sale and barter*—We have seen above that a brāhmaṇa is allowed to maintain himself by trade in distress or difficulties (*āpad*). But there were very great restrictions as to what things could be sold by a brāhmaṇa. According to Gaut. (VII. 8-14) a brāhmaṇa should not engage in the sale of fragrant things (like sandal-wood), fluids (like oils, ghee &c.), cooked food, sesame, hemp (and hempen articles like bags), kṣauma (linen), deer-skin, dyed and cleanly washed clothes, milk and its products (like curds &c.), roots, flowers, fruits, herbs (used as drugs), honey, meat, grass, water, deleterious drugs (like opium, poison), animals (for being killed), men (as slaves), barren cows, heifers and cows liable to abortion. He adds (Gautama VII. 15) that according to some a brāhmaṇa could not sell land, rice, *yava*, goats and sheep, horses, bulls, freshly delivered cows and oxen that are yoked to carts. These restrictions did not apply to a kṣatriya engaging in trade. Āp. Dh. S. I. 7. 20. 12-13²⁷⁷ has a similar list but adds among forbidden articles of sale 'weapons, sticky things (śleṣma, like lac), young stalks (tokma), fermented liquids (kiṇva), the expectation of merit (sukṛtāśā) and says that among corns sesame and rice are on no account to be sold. Baud. Dh. S. II. 1. 77-78 condemns the sale of sesame and rice by saying that he who sells them sells respectively his *pitṛs* (dead ancestors) and his *prāṇas*.
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This arose probably from the close connection of sesame with *śrāddha* and *tarpaṇa*. Vas. Dh. S. (II. 24-29) gives a similar list and adds a prohibition against the sale of stones, salt, silk, iron, tin, lead, all wild animals, all tame animals with uncloven hoofs and those that have a mane, birds and animals having fangs. It quotes a verse at II. 27 (which is the same as Manu X. 92) 'a brāhmaṇa immediately becomes a sinner by the sale of meat, lac and salt and he becomes a śūdra by selling milk for three days'. About sesame, Baud. Dh. S.²⁷⁸ (II. 1. 76), Manu (X. 91) and Vas. Dh. S. (II. 30) present the same verse 'If a man deals with sesame in any way other than eating them or using them for bathing (i. e. applying sesamum oil to the body before a bath) and making a gift of them, becomes a worm and sinks together with his pitṛs in the ordure of a dog'. But it appears that Vasiṣṭha²⁷⁹ (II. 31), Manu (X. 90) allow the sale of sesame if a man engages in agriculture and himself produces them (but sale must be only for purposes of religious duties, according to Manu). Yāj. (III. 39) and Nārada (ṛṇādāna 66) say that sesame may be bartered for an equal measure of other corn to raise means for religious purposes (and for medicine also according to Nārada). Manu (X. 86-89), Yāj. (III. 36-38), Nārada (ṛṇādāna 61-63) give long lists of articles that Brāhmaṇas were forbidden to sell and that include a few more than those specified above.
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For example, Manu forbids the sale of bee's wax, kuśa, indigo, while Yāj. adds soma, mud, blankets made of goat wool, hair (of *camarī* deer) and oilcakes (piṇyāka) to things forbidden to be sold. Śaṅkha-Likhita,²⁸⁰ Udyoga-parva 38. 5, Śāntiparva 78. 4-6, Hārīta (as quoted by Aparārka p. 1113) contain long lists of things the sale of which was forbidden to brāhmaṇas. Apart from these negative rules, there are some that are positive and prescribe what may be sold. For example, the Baud. Dh. S.²⁸¹ prescribes the sale of grass and wood in their natural state and quotes a verse 'Oh! Brāhmaṇa, these are the articles you may sell, viz., domestic animals that have only one row of teeth, minerals except salt and threads (i. e. cloth) that are not coloured with some dye.' Nārada²⁸² (ṛṇādāna 64-65) states 'a brāhmaṇa may sell dried wood and grass, except fragrant articles, *erakā* (a kind of grass), rattan, cotton, roots, kuśa grass; cereals that get split up of their own accord, *badara* and *iṅguda* among fruits, cords and threads of cotton provided they are not coloured'. Śaṅkha-Likhita also (as quoted by Aparārka p. 933) have the same rules as Nārada and further enjoin upon the brāhmaṇa not to higgle for the price but to have a fixed price.