Local Government in Ancient India c9.105

c9.105

As regards *craft-guilds*, Bṛhaspati mentions a number of varieties of these, such as those of (1) goldsmiths, (2) silversmiths, (3) workers in other or base metals [(*kupya*) like tin and lead (*Smṛti-Candrikā*)], (4) carpenters, (5) stone-dressers (*saṃskartā*), and (6) leather manufacturers [‘and also of rope, balls of silk, bones, &c.’]. The general law applicable to them all is that the artisans are to divide their profits according to the quality of the labour they can contribute or the handiwork produced. According to Kātyāyana the craft-guilds will generally represent four classes or grades of labour and skill as embodied in the *śiṣya*, (the young apprentice), the *abhijña*, (the craftsman possessing full knowledge), the *kuśala*, (the skilled craftsman), and the *ācārya*, i. e. he who introduces new modes or inventions [as explained by the *Vyavahāramayūkha*: (*nūtana-mārga-pravartakaḥ*)]. These four types of industrial ability are mentioned in the ascending order of merit (*Vivādaratnākara*). These are to receive respectively one, two, three, and four shares of the pay or profit (*Vyavahāramayūkha*). According to Bṛhaspati (29), the master craftsman will be entitled to a double share of the profits. The head of an engineering firm building a house or a temple, or digging a tank, will also have a double share of the profits.