Local Government in Ancient India c8.2.4

c8.2.4

There were also the mechanics, artisans, carpenters, pedlars and the like, and the line between legitimate and objectionable labour was very often crossed, as is proved by the frequent denunciations in our legal literature of those that did so, and also by the relaxation of the legal strictness in cases of distress due to failure of legitimate living.¹ There were thus in course of development three specialized sub-castes dividing the unity of the people-caste, each pursuing its particular interests to the exclusion of other interests, so that ultimately the traders as a class made themselves into a distinct body, apart from the classes to whom belonged the care of agriculture and cattle. Thus the due development of the commercial interests of the country was secured, leading to the establishment of guilds. The same thing happened also in the case of the artisan class or the Śūdras, who came to be regarded as legitimate members of the Aryan body-politic with their occupations defined. These were, in the words of Kauṭilya (a very early authority), ‘Vārttā, Kārukuśīlavakarma ca’, i. e. agriculture, cattle-rearing, and trade, together with manufactures and practice of such arts as acting and the like, thus showing that the line of demarcation separating the occupations of the Vaiśya from those of the lower caste was not very rigid.¹