Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.t3.58

c5.t3.58

"In individual branches of the tradesmen's profession, their small stability may be the reason why we do not read anything of a close organization."⁷ The frequently-mentioned petty tradesmen (*vāṇijā*) who cry out their wares in the streets of the city cannot of course be imagined to have belonged to any organization. The pedlar dealing in pots and pans sells his goods with the cry "buy water pots, buy water pots."⁸ Similarly another merchant (*vāṇija*) went about hawking his goods, which were carried on a donkey.⁹ So also the corn-dealers (*dhaññavāṇijā*)¹⁰ the green grocers (*paṇṇikā*),¹¹ and such other petty tradesmen who appear in the stories do not seem to have formed any organization of their own. They plied on their trade in their individual capacity, unbounded by conditions of a common union, and fixing their own price.¹²