Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.12

c5.12

From the analysis of the modern conception of wealth, we find four characteristics, viz., it is material, it is consumable, it is appropriable and it is transferable. Wealth of the *Jātaka* times consisted in gold and silver and such other precious metals, household gear, kine, oxen and horses, cattle (*pasu*), fields and stores of grain (*Koṭṭhāgāra*) and even slaves and hired labourers—mostly agricultural and commercial capital. And what industrial capital there was, was in the form of tools and implements of the various craftsmen. We may also add that the organisation of industry was based on private and not collective property of land and other means of production and distribution. Finally, there was, as we shall see, a considerable differentiation of occupations most of which again had become hereditary. This naturally necessitated facilities of exchange. And though we hear of a girl working for a garment and a dog being bought for a piece of money and a cloth, money economy had come into existence.