Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s11.978

v1.c3.s11.978

Kraya, ‘sale,’ is a word which does not actually occur in the Rigveda, though the verb krī, from which this noun is derived, is found there.¹ Both noun and verb are common in the later Saṃhitās.² Sale appears to have regularly consisted in barter in the Rigveda:³ ten cows are regarded as a possible price for an (image of) Indra to be used as a fetish, while elsewhere not a hundred, nor a thousand, nor a myriad are considered as an adequate price (śulka) for the purchase of Indra.⁴ The Atharvaveda⁵ mentions, as possible objects of commerce, garments (dūrśa), coverlets (pavasta), and goatskins (ajina). The haggling of the market was already familiar in the days of the Rigveda,⁶ and a characteristic hymn of the Atharvaveda⁷ is directed to procuring success in trade. The ‘price’ was called Vasna, and the ‘merchant’ Vaṇij, his greed being well known.⁸