Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c10.49

c10.49

**Land Transactions** [III. 9]. Lands were as easily saleable as moveable properties. They were put up to auction publicly in the presence of forty persons who owned property in the vicinity of the land or the house on sale. They congregated before the land or in front of the house on sale and announced it as being such. The aged persons of the locality presided over the transaction. A description was given of the boundaries and other necessary particulars of the property. The auctioner then loudly called out three times, ‘Who will purchase the land or the house at such a price’ (*anena argheṇa kaḥ kretā*)? The purchaser gets the land after this, if it is not objected to by any one (*avyāhatam*). But if, at this stage of the transaction, bidding commences, and the price is enhanced, the enhanced amount, together with the toll on the sale-value, was paid into the king’s treasury. The purchaser, who enhanced the value by bidding, paid the toll. The seller of lands or houses, the owners of which were absent or unknown, had to pay a fine of 24 (*paṇas*) [III. 9].