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Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.t4: Interest

Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories c5.t4

Language
English

Interest

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Loans and usury are as old as the Vedic times and perhaps much older. Ṛṇam or debt is repeatedly mentioned, from the Ṛgveda onwards, having apparently been a normal condition among the Vedic Indians;³ the Law-Books⁴ and the Kauṭilīya⁵ are of course much more elaborate on the subject.

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³ Vedic Index, I, pp. 109-110.

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⁴ See C. H. I., I, pp. 287 ff; J. B. O. R. S., VI, pp. 117 ff.

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⁵ Arthaśāstra, III. 11; Rangaswami, op. cit., pp. 108 ff.

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The Jātakas also show that loans were common.⁶ In one story,⁷ there is a tolerant tone concerning the money-lender (iṇāyika): "a patron, in enabling a huntsman to better himself, names money-lending (iṇadānaṃ), together with tillage, trade and harvesting as four honest callings." But the character of the money-lender, as profit-mongering, evading any legal or customary rate of interest, is also recognised, in as much as hypocritical ascetics are accused of practising this profession.⁸

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⁶ J., I, p. 321; IV, pp. 45, 184-G. 53; 256; 280-G. 7-8; V, p. 116-G. 18. VI, pp. 178; 193-G. 840.

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⁷ J., IV, p. 432 ff. G-112. Cf. Gautama, X. 6; XI, 21.

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⁸ J., IV, p. 184-G. 53.

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But this is all general. We do not know as to how and under what circumstances money was lent and what the interest on that money was.⁹ The term which appears in the Law Books as usury—vṛddhi, vaḍḍhi—is found,¹⁰ meaning profit or interest. The practice of borrowing money (iṇamādāya: iṇaṃ gahetvā) seems to have been almost universal. That the rates of interest were high or that the creditor (iṇāyika) was intent on profit-mongering may be inferred from this unmistakable fact that the familiar figure of the embarrassed, even desperate debtor (dhāraṇako) flits across the pages of the Jātakas.¹¹ A bankrupt invites his creditors to bring their debt sheets (iṇapaṇṇāni: mod. khuts) for settlement, only to drown himself before their very eyes.¹² Another flies away to a forest,¹³ Anxieties of a debtor were indeed many. Freedom from debts (*iṇamokkho*) was not easy, though desired.¹ Only a debts-freed man was considered fit for renunciation,² and that was the reason why it was felt necessary to debar any candidate who was a debtor from admission to the Buddhist *Saṅgha*.³ Sometimes the poor borrower, perhaps the cultivator or the small artisan, becomes heavily indebted, and the debt often runs through the life of the borrower and is inherited by his heirs (*pettikaṃ iṇaṃ*⁴) much in the same way as today.

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⁹ See for the rates of interest in the Law Books, J. B. O, R, S, VI. 117 ff; Rangaswami op. cit., pp. 107 ff; Arthaśāstra, III, 11. The rate may have ranged from 15 to 60 per cent. N. N. Law, Ancient Hindu Polity pp. 170 ff. This would point to a relative scarcity of loan capital.

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¹⁰ J., VI, p. 18.

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¹¹ J., IV, pp. 45, 256; VI, pp. 178, 245-G. 1097.

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¹² J., IV, p. 256; Cf. Milindapañho, p. 131; C. H. I., I., p. 218.

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¹³ J., VI, p. 178.

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¹ J., IV, p. 280-GG. 7-8.

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² J., VI, p. 18—G. 44 “*Aṇaṇassa hi pabajjā evaṃ isihi vaṇṇitaṃ*.”

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³ *Mahāvagga*, 1, 46; See C. H. I., I, p. 218.

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⁴ J., VI, p. 193-G. 840.

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There is very little to be said on this part in the shares of the dividend. Agriculture, as a money-making process, has never been a profitable business. And as to the manufactures also, we have seen that they were on a very small scale and therefore could not possibly secure anything like a good profit. It is very difficult to trace out exactly from the stories that class of middlemen whom the economists call the entrepreneur. These men stand between the producer and the trader. They purchase wholesale the surplus produce from the producers and sell it to the petty businessmen. Perhaps the only men from the *Jātakas* who can correspond to these middle-men were the rich *Seṭṭhis* and the rich traders who travelled from place to place, both on land and sea. The daring youth of the *Cullaka-Seṭṭhi Jātaka*,⁵ buying off the whole of the ship's cargo and selling it off to different merchants of the city might be regarded as a typical entrepreneur. He snatched a heavy profit, indeed; the *Seṭṭhis*, and the *Vāṇijas* should also belong to this class of middle-men.

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⁵ J., I, pp. 120 ff.

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We can well see that the problem of Distribution was not at all an intricate one as it is today. The industries of the country, including agriculture, were small-scaled. And the factors of production, being very often controlled by the same person, all the shares would naturally go to him.⁶

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⁶ The present-day inequitable distribution of wealth and its effects are thus generalised: “The unduly large share of the national dividend, possessed by the rich, produces in them grave faults of character and purpose which make them indifferent administrators of the capital without which labour is powerless. The unduly small share of the national dividend possessed by the poor is the source of a stream of moral and physical evils which mingling with the waters of death which descend from the high levels of luxury produce effects whose causation is only obscure as long as we neglect the study of the Error of Distribution!” Money, Riches and Poverty. p. 152.

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EXCHANGE

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"Merchants through hope seek treasure far and wide,
And taking ship on ocean's billows ride;
There sometimes do they sink to rise no more
Or else escaping, their lost wealth deplore"
—*Sudhābhojana Jātaka.*¹

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¹ J., V, p. 401-G. 244. The oversea trade between India and the neighbouring countries existed from very early times, even before the time of the Vedas which contain numerous references to it. See *Vedic Index*. I, p. 462; II, pp. 431-3. See also P. T. Srinivas Aiyangar, *Trade in India*. I. H. Q., I, pp. 693 ff; II, pp. 38 ff.

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"The ocean ever ebbs away
And fills again the self-same day."
—*Samudda Jātaka.*²

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² J., II, p. 442—G. 138.

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TRADE WAS CARRIED ON briskly by land as well as by sea. The inland and overland trade seems to have been extensive. It was important in itself and also served as a feeder to the sea-trade. Benares was indeed the chief industrial and commercial centre in those early days. From it passed the great trade-routes to and from all directions on land and water.

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From east to west (*pubbantā aparantam*)³ is of course a general term for the great trade-route that passed through different stages. Taking Benares as the centre of this route we can trace out the different stages through which the traffic was carried on. Leaving out Tāmalitti on the extreme east coast which was undoubtedly a great port,⁴ but which does not appear in the stories, we see that Campā was the next great trading Centre from the east. We know that traders from there sailed to Suvaṇṇabhūmi,⁵ probably passing through Tāmalitti. On land Campā was joined with Mithilā, the Videhan Capital.⁶ But further west, along the river Ganges, came the great centre Benares.⁷ On land Benares had busy trade relations with Ujjeni.⁸ The route, probably, passed through Kosambī and the Ceti country, as we have mention at least of a high way from Benares to Ceti.¹ On this side, the route branched off to Rājagaha.² From Videha to Gandhāra was a very brisk traffic.³ It was largely by river, and must have passed through Benares. To reach Kampilla or further still to Indapatta from Mithilā,⁴ one must have had to follow up this route upto Payāga, and then sail up the river Ganges, while the Yamunā might carry him up to Madhurā. Further westward the journey would again be overland to Sindha, whence came large imports in horses and asses⁵ and to Sovīra and its ports. Northward (*uttarāpatha*) lay the great trade-route connecting India with central and western Asia, by way of Taxila (Takkasilā) in Gandhāra near Rawalpindi and presumably also of Sāgala in the Panjāb.⁶ Now this was the route which passed through the great desert (*marukantāra*)—60 leagues wide⁷—probably the sandy desert of Rājputānā—of which we read so often. Caravans crossed this desert day and in day out. "The tradesman," says Fick,⁸ "who goes about the country with his caravan is in fact a typical figure in our narratives and, according to the statements in these, caravan traffic cannot have been small, either with regard to the distance traversed or with regard to wares carried." Thus we see that big trade-routes, through rivers and deserts, crossed the land in all directions and carried on an exchange of goods (*bhandam*) between the several and widely different parts of India.

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³ J., I, pp. 98, 368; III, p. 502; V, p. 471.

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⁴ Cf. Law, G. E. B., p. 69. The branch of the celebrated Bodhi tree was taken from this port to Ceylon.

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⁵ J., VI, pp. 34 ff.

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⁶ J., VI, p. 32. The distance between the two is said to have been 60 leagues (*yojanas*).

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⁷ The defaulting wood-wrights of the *Samuddavāṇija Jātaka*, J., IV, 159, reach an ocean-island from Benares. From here also Saṅkha, the Brāhmaṇa goes to Suvaṇṇabhūmi: IV, p. 15. Pāṭaliputta (Patna), coming between Campā and Benares, is not mentioned in the stories. It was perhaps a very small village at that time as testified by the Buddha himself. See *Dīgha Nikāya* II, 86. The celebrated Visākhā journeyed from Campā to Śrāvastī by boat. *Tibetan Tales*, pp. 115-6.

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⁸ J., II, p. 248.

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¹ J., I, pp. 253-4. Probably this route from Benares to Ujjeni met at Kosambi the great 'North to South-West Road' from Sāvatthi to Patitthāna, given in the Sutta Nipāta verses 1011-3—Sāvatthi, Sāketa, Kosambi Vedisā, Gonaddha, Ujjeni, Māhissati and Patitthāna. See Buddhist India, p. 103. From Ujjeni to Rājagaha the way lay though Kosambi—Mahā vagga, VIII, 1, 27. From Māhissati to Bharukaccha was an easy way along the Narmadā.

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² J., I, p. 466.

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³ J., III, p. 365.

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⁴ J., VI, p. 447.

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⁵ J., I, pp. 124, 178, 181; II, pp. 31, 287; V, pp. 259-60; VI, p. 265.

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⁶ C. H. I., I, p. 214. We cannot say by which route the 100 league distance between Sāgala and Kusāvatī, if this be true, was traversed by Kusa, J., V, p. 290.

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⁷ J., I, pp. 99, 108. (Satthiyojanakam marukantāram.)

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⁸ op. cit., p. 272. According to the Tibetan Tales, p. 99, Jivaka's journey from Takkasilā to Rājagaha lay through Bhadramkara city, Udumbara city, Rohitaka land, Mathurā city, Yamunā river and Vaiśāli city, corresponding more or less to the outline drawn above.

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So much for the inland and overland trade.

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As regards reverine traffic and sea-trade also, we have some notices. "The plentifulness of great navigable waterways in Northern India allows us to assume an early development of internal maritime trade."⁹ Well-known sea-ports like Bharukaccha (Broach)¹⁰ and the sea-board of Sovīra,¹¹ on the west and Kāvirapattana,¹² and the less-known ones like Karambiya,¹³ Gambhīra¹⁴ and Seriva¹⁵ on the south and east are mentioned. Suppāraka might also be added to the list.¹ The great rivers served as commercial routes and royal roads connected the important cities. Thus it was practicable to reach any of these ports, from inland towns like Campā and even Benares, as we have seen. A brisk coastal trade must also have been maintained between the sea-port towns themselves.²

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⁹ Fick, op. cit., p. 270.

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¹⁰ J., III, pp. 126-7, 188, 190-G. 57; IV, pp. 137-42.

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¹¹ J., III, p. 470.

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¹² J., IV, p. 238. See Kanakasabhai, The Tamils 1800 years ago quoted by Subbarao op. cit., p. 81, ff.

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¹³ J., V, p. 75.

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¹⁴ J., I, p. 239.

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¹⁵ J., I, p. 111. It is presumed that this Seriva is identical with the Seriyaputa mentioned in a votive lable on the Barhut Stupa, See Barua, Barhut Inscriptions, pp. 32, 130.

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¹ J., IV, pp, 138-42. Other references to unnamed Paṭṭanagāmas or sea-port towns are J., II, p. 103; IV, p. 16.

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² Cf. "The whole of the sea-board from Broach to Cape Comorin was studded with marts and emporia that served as warehouses for the products of the whole of India and poured from their ample stores commodities of various kinds into the markets of the west." P. V. Kane, in *Proceedings 1st Oriental Conference, Poona*, II, p. 365. The *Periplus* bears ample testimnoy to this.

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And as to the sea-faring activities of the people of that age there cannot be a shadow of doubt.³ We have ample references, however meagre the details may be, to show that brisk trade was carried on between India and the neighbouring countries, on the west and the east.

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³ See Kennedy, *The Early Commerce of India with Babylon*, (700-300 B.C.) J. R. A. S., 1898, pp. 241-88 : Scoff, *The Periplus*, pp. 228 *ff*. Fick, also, doubts trading on the high seas, *op. cit.*, p. 269.

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SEA-BORNE TRADE.

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In the *Valāhassa-Jātaka*,⁴ which reminds us of the sirens and other akin creatures, we are told the fate of five hundred ship-wrecked traders, who fall in the hands of she-goblins (*yakkhinīs*) in Tambapaṇṇi or Ceylon. Again in the *Saṅkha Jātaka*⁵ we have a figure of a ship-wrecked man on a voyage from Benares to Suvaṇṇabhūmi or Lower Burma in search of wealth. In the *Silanisamsa Jātaka*⁶ we see a sea-faring nymph as helmsman bringing ship-wrecked people from off the sea to Benares by river.

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⁴ J., II, pp. 127 *ff*.

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⁵ J., IV, pp. 15-7.

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⁶ J., II, pp. 112-4.

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Similarly we hear, in the *Mahājanaka Jātaka*,⁷ of merchants who sailed from Campā bound for Suvaṇṇabhūmi, the great trading centre, to which traders even from Bharukaccha⁸ went, doubtless putting in at a Ceylon (Tambapaṇṇi) port : for Ceylon was another bourne of oversea commerce, and one associated with ports around which Odyssean legends had grown up.⁹ The now well-known *Baveru-Jātaka*¹⁰ undoubtedly points out to the existence of commercial intercourse between India and Babylon through the Persian Gulf. But the most important of all these is the *Suppāraka Jātaka*¹¹ which records, though in the usual mystic manner, the perilous adventures on the high seas undergone by a company of traders who sailed from the seaport town of Bharukaccha, in a vessel under the pilotage of a blind but accomplished mariner. The story gives the names of some of the sea-points through which the traders passed. They were in succession as follows :

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⁷ J., VI, p. 34.

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⁸ J., III, p. 188.

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⁹ C. H. I., I, p. 213.

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¹⁰ J., III, p. 126 *ff*. On this Jātaka, see Bühler, *Origin of The Indian Alphabet*, p. 84.

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¹¹ J., IV, pp. 138-42. GG. 105-115.

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(a) Khuramāla (b) Aggimāla (c) Dadhimāla (d) Nilakusamāla (e) Nalamāla and (f) Valabhāmukha. Now from the names and the description given in the gāthās, these are clearly identifiable respectively with (a) some portion of the Persian Gulf, perhaps touching the south-eastern end of Arabia (b) the Arabian coast near Aden or some portion of the Somali-land, (c) the Red Sea, (d) Nubia on the N. E. corner of Africa, (e) the canal joining the Red Sea with the Mediterranean and (f) the volcano-sea i.e., some portion of the Mediterranean Sea where volcanoes are still to be seen.¹ Thus it shows the whole sea-route from Broach up to the Mediterranean passing through the Persian, Arabian, and the Red Seas. The trade-relations of India with Babylon, Arabia, Egypt, Greece and South European countries on the Mediterranean are, thus, undeniable.²

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¹ See Jayaswal, J. B. O. R. S., VI, p. 195; Infra. Geographical Index under corresponding Names.

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² See Mookerji, Indian Shipping, pp. 82 ff.

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What commodities were exported and imported³ or what exchanged inland we do not clearly know. Of the inland trade we are mostly told of five hundred waggons laden with valuable goods. Probably these loads (bhaṇḍam) contained cloths for which Benares was so famous. Once⁴ we read of rice, beams and other grains dropped by passing waggons. But, as pointed out by Subbarao,⁵ food-stuffs could hardly have entered in those days into the trade between distant places. The silken robes of Kāsī⁶ the woollen rugs of Gandhāra⁷ and the linen cloths of Koḍumbara (in the Punjab)⁸ must have been some of the exchangeable commodities. The needle-work and steelwork of Dasaṇṇa or the later Vidiśā (Bhilsa region in C. P.) was sufficiently famous to be distributed.⁹ Peacocks and birds must have been included.¹⁰ In general, “silks, muslins, the finer sorts of cloth and cutlery and armour, brocades, embroideries and rugs, perfumes and drugs, ivory and ivory-work, jewellery and gold” were no doubt “the main articles which the merchants dealt in.”¹¹

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³ On this and generally on the whole chapter, it would be worth while comparing Prof. Lassen's valuable treatise on the History of Indian Commerce: trasnlated in J. B. O. R. S., X, pp. 229-316.

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⁴ J., I, p. 429.

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⁵ op. cit., p. 80.

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⁶ J., II, p. 443-G. 141; III, p. 10; V, p. 78-G. 230; VI, pp. 49-G. 194. 50-G, 225.

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⁷ J., V, p. 500-G. 1796.

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⁸ Ibid G. 1801.

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⁹ J., III, p. 282 ff; p. 337 ff. G. 39.

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¹⁰ J., III, p. 126 ff. Cf. The Bible, Kings, X, 22.

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¹¹ Cf. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India pp. 98 ff; cf. Mookerji, Indian shipping, p. 82 ff.

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It is essential, for the growth of trade and commerce especially, that there should be fairly developed means of rapid and cheap communication or transport. Of course, in those early days we cannot expect much more than carts drawn by animals on land, simple boats on rivers and well-constructed ships on the sea.

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We find numerous references to roads,¹ but it is not clear what sort of roads they were. Prof. Rhys Davids says, "There were no made roads, and no bridges. The carts struggled along, slowly, through the forests, along the tracks from village to village kept open by the peasants. The pace never exceeded two miles an hour, smaller streams were crossed by gullies leading down to fords, the larger ones by cart ferries."² Probably, things were not quite so primitive. Mention of "highways" and "royal roads" (*mahāmagga*: *rājamagga*) as distinguished from "bye-lanes" and "bye-road" (*upa-patha*)³ might suggest the existence of well-constructed roads. Still however the conditions do not appear to have been satisfactory. Roads were not smooth.⁴ They lay through forests and deserts and beset with many dangers : dangers from draught, famine, wild beasts, robbers, demons, poisonous trees and so on.⁵ The travellers, often, experienced want of water,⁶ though wells were dug by the road-side.⁷ The journey of a caravan through desert or forest country is indeed a typical feature of our stories. The *Apaṇnaka*⁸ and *Vaṇṇupatha*⁹ *Jātakas* throw a flood of light on the difficult way in which trade was carried on by these caravans. We are told of five kinds of wildernesses (*kantāras*); those infested with robbers, those in which wild beasts abounded, those others visited by drought, demons and famine. These were in reality, probably,¹⁰ the five successive portions of the route over the deserts of Rājaputānā.

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¹ J., I, pp. 98. 99, 100, 128, 225 ; II, pp. 3, 70, 82, 118 ; III, pp. 200, 526 ; V, pp. 22, 46, 266-G. 81 ; 313 ; VI, pp. 137, 341, 348, 380.

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² Buddhist India, p. 98.

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³ J., I, p. 351 ; II, p. 3, 70, 303 ; III, p. 49 ; V, p. 106, 266-G. 81 ; VI, pp. 51, 179.

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⁴ J., I, p. 194.

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⁵ J., I, pp. 98, 271, 274, 283 ; II, p. 335 ; IV, p. 185 ; V, pp. 22, 471, the *Chaddanta Jātaka*, J., V, p. 46, gives a graphic description of roads that lay through jungles and other kinds of tracts.

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⁶ J., I, pp. 99, 109.

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⁷ J., II, p. 70.

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⁸ J., I, p. 99 ff.

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⁹ Ibid. p. 107 ff.

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¹⁰ Barua, *Proceedings 4th Oriental Conference*, II, p. 213.

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Whenever the wind blew in their teeth, they rode on in front in their carriage with their attendants round them, in order to escape the dust, but when the wind blew from behind them, then they rode in like fashion in the rear of the column. If it was a forest or a shaded or cool tract, the travellers kept on their march all the day long, and at sunset they unyoked their carts and made a laager, tethering the oxen to the wheels. The oxen were made to lie down in the middle with the men round them. The leader of the caravan with the leading men of his band had to guard at night. On the day-break, again, the caravan started on its march.¹¹ If the portion of the route was an empty desert, they had to travel by night. The sand of the desert grew as hot as a bed of charcoal embers at day time, and nobody could walk upon it. So they used to take firewood, water, oil, rice and so forth on their carts, and only travelled by night.¹² At dawn they used to range their carts in a circle to form a laager, with an awning spread overhead, and after an early meal used to sit in the shade all the day along. When the sun went down, they had their evening meal; and so soon as the ground became cool, they used to yoke their carts and move forward. Travelling on this desert was like voyaging over the sea: a desert-pilot (thalaniyāmaka) had to convey them over by knowledge of the stars.¹

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¹¹ J., I, p. 101 ff.

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¹² Cf. Pliny's account of the journey on desert on the Red Sea border : (VI, 26) : Schoff, *Periplus*, p. 232-3.

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¹ J., I, pp. 107 ff.

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And the way was often insecure. Organised bands of robbers, with shields on their shoulders and swords in hands, lay in wait for these tradesmen,² especially in the forest. And there were forest-people (aṭavimukhavāsī) at the entrance who led the caravans through the dangerous places and were paid for.³

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² J., IV, p. 185-G. 58, Cf. I, p. 283: II, p. 335, V, pp. 22, 422
3. J., V, pp. 22, 471.

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Indeed, the way was wearisome and the process slow. The carts were drawn by oxen and the broad rims of their wheels were protected by iron bands.⁴ These carts or waggons were the ordinary Sakaṭas.⁵ But there were cars of richer style, no doubt. The ratha or the sukhayānaka was drawn by horses. It had comfortable seats.⁶ Litters or Sivikās were used by the royalty and the wealthy.⁷

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⁴ J., IV, p. 210.

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⁵ J., IV, pp. 207-8, 458.

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⁶ J., I, pp. 175, 202; II, p. 339; III, p. 527; IV, pp. 207-8; 458; V, p. 164.

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⁷ J., IV, p. 378; VI, pp. 500-G, 1797, 514-G. 1913.

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The great rivers did, no doubt, furnish means of communication and some facilities of transport. Of bridges we have no mention.⁸ There were fording places⁹ and the streams and water courses were crossed by means of boats.¹⁰ There were canoes (ekaḍonikanāvā) also.¹¹ People made a living by conveying people and goods across the rivers.¹²

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⁸ But there was something like a causeway (setu) or raised dyke built over shoal water: O. H. I., I, p. 214.

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⁹ J., III, p. 230.

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¹⁰ J., II, p. 423; III, p. 230; IV, pp. 234; 478.

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¹¹ J., IV, p. 456; V, p. 163; VI, p. 305; Cf. Dhoṇi.

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¹² J., I, p. 112; III, p. 230.

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The maritime transport appears to have been greatly developed, though not devoid of its own dangers. As already noticed, sea-navigation was common. Voyages were mostly undertaken for purposes of trade by companies of merchants,¹³ though passengers were also taken up.¹⁴ The ships were built of wooden-planks (dāruphalakāni)¹⁵ and were dependent on wind (erakavātayuttā) for their onward journey.¹⁶ Shipbuilding was fairly advanced, the outer frame work, there used to be 3 masts (kūpā, mod. Kuvāthambha), cordage (yottam), sails (sitam), planks (padarāni) the oars and the rudders (phiyāritāni) and anchors (laṅkhāro).¹ The pilot on board (niyāmaka) had the charge of the rudder and guided the ship.²

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¹³ J., II, p. 129; IV, p. 142; V, p. 75.

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¹⁴ J., II, p. 111; III, p. 188.

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¹⁵ J., II, p. 111; IV, pp. 20-G. 32; VI, pp. 34, 427.

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¹⁶ J., I, p. 239; II, p. 112; IV, p. 20-G. 32.

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¹ J., II, p. 112; III, p. 126; IV, pp. 17, 21. Cf. Ācārāṅga Sūtra, II, 3, 1, 13-21. See the sculptured figures reproduced in R. K. Mookerji, *Indian Shipping*.

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² J., II, p. 112; IV, p. 137; V, p. 326; VI, pp. 326, 443.

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But there were serious dangers on the high seas. Does not the poor mother in one of our Jātakas say to her son, who is bent upon sailing to a far-off country, that "the sea has many dangers?"³ Our stories are full of ship-wrecks, indeed. Sometimes the ship may be swallowed away by whirlpools (vohara).⁴ But often the timber could not withstand the terrible force of their surging waves. There was a leakage. The men on board tried to bale the water clear.⁵ And still, when the planks gave way, water rose and the ship began to sink, the crew invoked the gods.⁶ The prayers unavailing, they had to catch hold of the planks to be carried wherever their fate liked, to unknown and dangerous places.⁷

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³ J., VI, p. 34—"samuddo nāma appariddhiko, bahu antarāyiko."

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⁴ J., V, p. 259.

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⁵ J., IV, p. 16.

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⁶ J., VI, p. 34 "phalakāni bhinnāni, tato tato udakaṃ uggataṃ, nāvāmajjhe samudde nimuggā mahājano rodati paridevati nānādevatā namassati"—the sea is still a god with the sailors in India.

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⁷ J., I, p. 110; II, pp. 111, 128; III, p. 280; IV, pp. 2, 142; V, p. 75; VI, p. 34. An interesting thing to be noticed in this connection is the precautions taken just before the ship-wreck: once when the ship was about to sink, the man on board ate sugar and ghee and then smeared his garments with oil (mattasāṭaka telena makkhitvā) and put them tightly round him and stood leaning against the mast. J., VI, p. 34. The oil-soaked robe could resist the slow freezing of the body: "The competitors in swimming even today do not act otherwise:" S. Levi, *I. H. Q.*, VI, p. 606.

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It is interesting to notice, *en passant*, that the Indian mariners like the sea-faring Phoenicians and Babylonians of Ancient times, employed the shore-sighting birds (disākāka) for finding the direction of land during navigation.⁸

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⁸ J., III, p. 126-7, 267. Cf. *Ṛgveda*, VI, 62-6.

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The conclusion is that transport, on the whole, was very slow, thus obstructing the easy exchange of goods.

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The act of exchange between producer and consumer, or between either and a middleman was done in different ways. Every village had its own resident traders. Here, for the most part buying and selling were done directly, *i.e.*, between the producer and the consumer, probably in individual shops, or open market-place. A portion of the village produce was sold in the village market for local consumption, and the surplus, if any, was handed over to the agents in the towns and thence despatched to trade-centres in other parts of the country, or exported out of it. Imported merchandise was distributed by the same machinery working in the opposite direction. In this process, trade passed through the hands of middlemen (vāṇijā), whose existence cannot be doubted.

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Within the town as we have seen, there were special streets apportioned to different products.⁹ Food-stuffs,¹⁰ green groceries,¹¹ and flowers for the towns¹ were apparently brought only to the gates. Probably near the gates or outside them were also the slaughter-houses (*sūnā*) and near them the poor man and the king's chef bought their meat.² And there were the taverns (*pānāgāra : surāpaṇa*) for the sale of strong liquors.³ “The workshop in the street was open to view, so that the *bhikkhu* coming into town or village for alms, could see fletcher and carriage-builder at work, no less than he could watch the peasant on the field.”⁴ In all these shops (*āpaṇa*) forming the bazaar, articles of various kinds were displayed for sale⁵ or stored within (*antarā-paṇa*).⁶ In most of these cases buying and selling were direct (*i.e.*, between the producer and the consumer) : the two notable exceptions being those of the green-grocers and the corn-factors.

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⁹ Supra, pp. 213-4

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¹⁰ See, for instance, J., I, p. 361.

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¹¹ J., I, p. 442; II, p. 179; III, pp. 21-2; IV, pp. 445, 448-G. 119; 449.

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¹ J., I, p. 120; IV, p. 82; VI, p. 276-G. 1197.

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² J., III, pp. 100, 378; V, p. 458; VI, pp. 62, 276-G. 1196 ; 334.

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³ J., I, pp. 121, 252, 269, 350; II, pp. 427, 431; IV, pp. 115, 223; V, p. 13; VI, p. 328.

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⁴ C. H. I., I, 215.

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⁵ J., II, p. 267; III, pp. 198, 199-G. 77; IV, p. 488; VI, p. 29.

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⁶ J., I, p. 350; III, p. 406.

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It is, indeed, curious that we do not find any mention or clear reference either to a market-place in the town or to seasonal market days, as the *Hāṭ* of the modern days, or fairs (*melās*)—the *samājas*⁷ or fetes do not appear to have included any kind of market.⁸

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⁷ See for instance J., I, p. 423; III, p. 442.

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⁸ C. H. I., I, p. 215.

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Another way in which the exchange of goods was carried out was by hawking, *i.e.*, the sellers going about looking out for the buyers. Hawkers roamed about in the streets with their wares just as at present⁹ and travelled from place to place¹⁰ with their goods on a donkey¹¹ or on a barrow.¹² Horses were taken for sale to kings by the sellers.¹³

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⁹ J., I, pp. 111, 205; II, p. 424; III, pp. 21, 283.

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¹⁰ J., III, p. 54.

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¹¹ J., II, pp. 109-110.

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¹² J., IV, p. 333.

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¹³ J., I, p. 121; II, pp. 31, 287.

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It is also interesting to note in this connection that there grew up some market-towns (*nigamagāmas*)¹⁴ “which served as centres of trade in a locality as the name implies and were the natural corollary of the specialized industries of the villages” noticed before.¹⁵ They sometimes grew up at the entrances of great cities like Mithilā.¹⁶

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¹⁴ J., I, p. 205; II, pp. 225, 232; III, pp. 21, 283. *Cf.* Arthaśāstra, II, 1. (*Paṇyapattana*)

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¹⁵ Supra, p. 214.

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¹⁶ J., VI, p. 330, Subbarao, op. cit., p. 79.

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Trade with the border was another feature in the business transaction of the day.¹⁷ “The border merchant served as a sort of entrepot. Merchants in the capital cities established relations with the merchants on the border.¹⁸ They would load their carts with local produce and give orders to men in charge to go to their correspondents on the border and exchange it for the wares in their shops,”¹ or for money.² The wares obtained at the border were probably forest produce and also possibly goods of other countries.³

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¹⁷ J., I, pp. 121, 344-5; pp. 31, 287.

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¹ J., I, pp. 376, 378.

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² J., I, p. 404.

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³ Subbarao, op. cit., p. 80.

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As already said, the exchange between producers and consumers or between either and a middleman was a “free” bargain. There were no fixed prices.⁴ Owing to slow transport, individualistic and small production and primitive machinery, supply was hampered. But nothing prevented the producer or the dealer from prevailing by competition⁵ and also by adulteration, and knavery (kuṭakārī),⁶ and thus bringing about an equation with a demand “which was largely compact of customary usage and relatively unaffected by the swifter fluctuations termed fashion.”⁷ Merchants were well-known for bragging (vikatthanī).⁸

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⁴ J., I, p. 98.

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⁵ J., III, pp. 282 ff; GG. 84 ff.

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⁶ J., VI, pp. 110-G. 463; 113-GG. 479-80; 235; Cf. Brahmajāla suttanta. Dialogues of the Buddha, I, p. 6 n.; Uvāsagadasāo, p. 18. Kuḍatullakuḍamāna : tappadiruvaga.

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⁷ C. H. I., I p. 216. The principle by which the margin is pushed lower in response to increased demand is sought to be recognized in the following gāthā.

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⁸ J., V, p. 425-G. 290.

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We may also note some practices of a more developed competition known to-day as “dealing in futures” or “cornering.” We have already noticed the instance of the daring youth of Benares. Receiving the earliest intimation of the arrival of a ship in port, he proceeded to buy it up whole-sale on credit and thus established a “corner” in foreign produce which sent up prices to his immense profits.⁹ The same youth had, sometime before, sent up the price of grass by a “limitation of output” in agreement with other “producers.”¹⁰ In another instance two dealers in pots and pans apportioned the streets between themselves, each to hawk in his own district, and they also agreed that “one might try the streets which the other had already been into.”¹¹

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⁹ J., I, pp. 121-2. Mrs. Rhys Davids remarks: “The outlay in this case for a carriage, a pavilion at the Benares docks, men (purisā), and ushers (paṭihārā) must have cut deep into his last profit of 1000 coins, but he was 20,000 per cent to the good as the result of it! After this the profit of 200 and 400 per cent reaped by the traders (J. I. p. 109) falls a little flat.” C. H. I. I, p. 216. Such economic thrills are indeed rare in Ancient Indian literature and in life.

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¹⁰ J., I, p. 121; Cf. Subbarao, op. cit., p. 81 and n. Cf. Kauṭilya, Arthaśāstra, IV, 2.

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¹¹ J., I, pp. 111-2. “Dividing the streets,” is well known among the coster-mongers of London : Subbarao, op. cit., p. 81 n.

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Haggling over prices seems to have been not an uncommon feature of the times.¹² We however hear of a dealer who regards this haggling as a “killing work.”¹³

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¹² J., I, pp. 111 ff; 195; II, pp. 222, 289, 424 ff; VI, p. 113-G. 479. (aggahena aggam kayam hāpayanti).

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¹³ J., I, p. 99. Cf. RgVeda. IV, 24, 9. The king made his purchases under special conditions. He had a valer (agghāpaka) “who used to value horses, elephants and like and jewels and gold.” His price was final, J., I, p. 124; II, p. 31.

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A wild and savage cow that we
Had never milked before:
We milked to-day; demand
For more milk grows ever more and more.” J., V, p. 105-G. 334.
Subbarao, op. cit., p. 61 n.

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But it is not improbable that custom and fair-play-sense may have settled price to a great extent. Prices were fixed in terms of money, though references to goods exchanged between parties are not unknown.¹ Generally however barter was replaced by the use of a metal currency to which we are now coming.

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¹ J., I, pp. 103, 109, 377-8; II, p. 247; VI, p. 519.

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Money, as a medium of exchange, was in use in India from very early times.² The *Jātakas* leave no doubt whatever as to the use of coins as currency in exchange. Mrs. Rhys Davids rightly observes: "The Buddhist literature reveals a society having the full use and enjoyment of plentiful coinage. The worth of every marketable commodity, from a dead mouse and a day at the festival, up to all kinds of fees, pensions, fixed loans, stored treasure and income, is stated in figures of a certain coin and its fraction and that is either explicitly stated or implied to be *Kahāpaṇa*."³

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² See Bhandarkar, *Ancient Indian Numismatics*, pp. 167 ff.

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³ J. R. E. S., 1901, p. 318; also J. R. A. S., 1901, p. 876.

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Several *Jātakas*⁴ mention a specific class of coins, viz., the *nikkhas* which were surely golden coins, as expressly stated in some of the *gāthās*;⁵ *nikkhas* were not the only class of gold coins known to the *Jātakas*. We frequently meet with an expression in which the words *hirañña* and *suvaṇṇa* are associated together.⁶ Dr. Bhandarkar rightly infers that *suvaṇṇa* in this, as in other places where it is associated with *hiraṇya*, must stand not for "gold" but a "type of gold coins."⁷ We also read, in the stories, of gold coins of a still smaller denomination, viz., the *Suvaṇṇa-māsakas*.⁸ As we shall see, *māsa* was a unit in the weight system of Indian coinage which differed in weight according as the coin was of gold, silver or copper. A *suvaṇṇa-māsaka* was therefore a gold coin equal to one *māsa* in weight according to the standard of gold coinage.⁹ Thus we see that in the days of the *Jātakas*, no less than three types of gold coins were current. Of the lowest value was the *māsaka*, of a higher denomination was the *Suvaṇṇa*, and of a still higher denomination, the *nikkha*.

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⁴ J., I, pp. 375, 376-G. 88; IV, pp. 224, 227-GG. 63, 66; 460; G. 228. 461-G. 229-230; VI, pp. 402-G. 1630;464-G. 1638; 546, 547.

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⁵ J., IV, p. 227-G. 63, 66. Bhandarkar, *op. cit.*, pp. 47-50. On the *niṣkas* of the *RgVeda*, as being golden coins, see Rai Sahib Manoranjan Ghosh, in *Proceedings, 4th Oriental Conference* p.p. 711-22,

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⁶ J., VI, pp. 69, 186; 462, 493-G. 1742.

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⁷ *Op. cit.*, p. 51, Cf. Manu, VIII, 137.

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⁸ J., IV, pp. 106, 107; V, p. 164.

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⁹ Cf. The remarks of Dr. Bhandarkar, *op. cit.*, p. 53; *Arthaśāstra*, II, 19; 5 seeds of Guñjā=1 *Suvaṇṇamāsa*.

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The most frequent mention, however, is that of a class of coins called *kahāpaṇas* (skt. *Kārṣāpaṇas*).¹⁰ This *kahāpaṇa* appears to have been of three varieties, according as it was of gold, silver and copper,¹¹ though gold *kahā- paṇa is very seldom referred to. Thus in the *Gāmani-caṇḍa Jātaka*¹ where the pair of oxen and the horse are priced at 24 and 1000 *kahāpaṇas* respectively, they must be silver *kahāpaṇas* “as copper or gold *kahāpaṇas* would be too low or too high a price to pay for those animals.”²

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¹⁰ J., I, pp. 112, 195, 478, 483; II, pp. 20, 247, 305, 424; III pp. 448; IV, pp. 138. 378; 449; VI, pp. 343, 404.

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¹¹ Cf. *Sāmanta-pāsādikā* quoted by Bhandarkar, *op. cit.*, p. 81.

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¹ J., II, pp. 305-6.

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² Cf. Bhandarkar, *op. cit.*, p. 78; Cf. Pran Nath, *op. cit.*, p. 109. The silver *kahāpaṇas* were later called *Purāṇas* and *dharanas*: *op. cit.*, pp. 82, 92.

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On the *Kahāpaṇa*, Prof. Rapson’s remarks make everything clear: “To both of the standard coins in question, the silver *purāṇa* of 32 *ratis* and the copper *paṇa* of 80 *ratis*, the same name *kārṣāpaṇa* was sometimes applied. This double use of the term was probably in ancient times only confusing whenever the currency of one district had to be compared with that of another. We may gather both directly from the statements of the Law Books, and more generally from the study of the coins, that in Ancient India silver and copper coinages were often independent of each other and circulated in different districts. A copper currency was not necessarily regarded as merely auxiliary to the silver currency; but a copper standard prevailed in some districts just as a silver standard prevailed in others. The word *kārṣāpaṇa*, therefore, may in any particular district be supposed to mean the standard coin whether of silver or copper.”³

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³ *Catalogue of Indian coins: Andhras and Kṣatrapas*: Intro. pp. clxxix-x. *Kārṣāpaṇa* appears to have been so called, because in weight it conformed to one *Karṣa*, or 80 *ratis* or 146.4 grains as computed by Cunningham. The *Kahāpaṇas* are also identified with the punch-marked coins found all over India in great abundance: Bhandarkar, *op. cit.*, p. 96. For example see *Buddhist India*, p. 106.

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The *Jātaka* stories also give us the various token coins of this standard. We have *kahāpaṇa*, *addha-kahāpaṇa*, *pāda-kahāpaṇa*, *māsaka*, *addha-māsaka*⁴ and *kākaṇikā*⁵—almost the lowest money-piece of the day.⁶ The *kahāpaṇa* (whether of silver or copper) and its smaller tokens mentioned above, were quite intimately connected not only with the commercial life but also with the daily intercourse of the period. Whether these instruments of exchange, constituting of course a currency of standard and token coins, were issued and regulated by any Central Authority or by private guilds we have no means to ascertain.

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⁴ J., III, p. 448; Cf. also I, p. 340.

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⁵ J., I, p. 120; VI, p. 346; Cf. *Uttarādhyayana Sūtra*, VII, 11. Cowryshells (*sippikāni*) are also mentioned once in a *gāthā*: J., I, p. 425-G. 109, but perhaps not as anything still having currency.

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⁶ Kautilya has half-*kākiṇi* as the lowest copper coin: *Arthaśāstra*, II, 12. From the *Gaṅgamāla Jātaka*, J., III, p. 448, it appears that a *Pāda-kahāpaṇa* equalled something more than 4 *māsakas*; and curiously enough the commentary on the *Vinaya Piṭaka*, as pointed out by Dr. Bhandarkar, tells us that in the time of Bimbisāra, five *māsakas* equalled one *Pāda*: *op. cit.*, pp. 111-2, Cf. also C. H. I., I, p. 218.

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We must here note the purchasing power of money or in other words PURCHASING prices of ordinary commodities. A pair of oxen was POWER. worth 24 *kahāpaṇas*,⁷ a nice plump dog is bought for one *kahāpaṇa*;⁸ a decent ass is had for eight *kahāpaṇas*;⁹ a fish is worth 7 *māsakas* only;¹ a bundle of grass, again, fetches one *māsaka*² and for the same small coin can be had a jar of liquor;³ two poor lovers buy a garland, perfume and strong drink with one *māsaka*;⁴ a piece of meat can be had for an *addhamāsaka* or even a *kākanikā*⁵ and dead mouse is also purchased for a *kākanikā*.⁶ Similarly a *māsaka* or an *addhamāsaka* is the daily wage of a day-labourer,⁷ as noticed before. To hire a carriage in Benares by the hour cost 8 *kahāpaṇas*.⁸ For the services of a young bull to pull 500 carts through a rough ford, a merchant pays 2 *kahāpaṇas* per cart⁹; a ferry's fare across the river is 8 *kahāpaṇas*¹⁰ and the same sum seems to have been the cost of a visit to a barber.¹¹ All these instances give a realistic picture of the various transactions of the day. Naturally, the ordinary people could not go beyond such little sums of *māsakas* and *kahāpaṇas*. The nobility and the rich people are almost always spoken of in terms of high expenditures. Horses were highly priced—the prices ranging from 1000 to 6000 *kahāpaṇas*.¹² The Kāsi cloth was worth 100000 *kahāpaṇas*—¹³ a sum undreamt of by the poor class. All these figures mentioned before are not, and cannot, however be taken as quite exact. For the references are only legendary and not in the way of statistical figures like those given in Kauṭilya's *Arthaśāstra*.

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⁷ J., II, pp. 305-6.

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⁸ J., II, p. 247.

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⁹ J., VI, p. 343.

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¹ J., II, pp. 424 and 425-G. 112.

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² J., III, p. 130; *Cf.* IV, p. 449.

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³ J., I, p. 350.

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⁴ J., III, p. 446.

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⁵ J., VI, p. 346.

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