Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.t3.102

c5.t3.102

But his part as a rich and influential merchant prince is much more pronounced than his part as an official. A *Seṭṭhi* living in Benares engages in trade and drives a caravan of five hundred waggons;⁵ also we find mention of *seṭṭhis* living in the provinces and in the country side.⁶ There also their wealth and influence are great. Leaving aside the conventional statement of his wealth as eight hundred millions (*asītikotivibhavo*)⁷ we find that the *seṭṭhis* had, in their possession, nice houses with gorgeous coaches, servants and herdsmen.⁸ Sometimes they also possessed rice-fields.⁹ It follows from this that "we have to look upon the *seṭṭhis* not only as tradesmen but also as cattle-rearing and land-cultivating owners of the soil"¹⁰ There might be a chief (*mahā*) *seṭṭhi* and an *anuseṭṭhi* or subordinate officer.¹¹