Local Government in Ancient India c14.4

c14.4

A record from Baligāmi in the Mysore State supplies also a very long eulogy of these merchants and states, in addition to what has been stated in the Kāṭṭūr epigraph, that they were heroes (*vīras*), born to wander over many countries ever since the beginning of the Kṛta age, penetrating regions of the six continents by land and water routes and dealing in various articles such as horses, elephants, precious stones, perfumes, and drugs either wholesale or retail (*Ep. Carn.*, vol. VII, Sk. 118; and *Madras Epigraphy*, 1912–13, p. 100). This boast of the mercantile community is justified by the existence of stone records even in Ceylon and Burma which refer to their communal gifts in those countries. The Vaiṣṇava temple at Pagan in Upper Burma was built by the merchants (*nānādeśī*) of that town (*Ep. Ind.*, vol. VII, p. 197).