8th Century Document on Means of Earning Money

Author(s): Prem Suman Jain
Publisher: Z_Nahta_Bandhu_Abhinandan_Granth_012007.pdf

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8th Century Documents on Means of Earning Money
Prof. Prem Suman Jain Shree Jain Post Graduate College, Bikaner
In ancient India though the chief source of Earning money was the buying and selling of goods, yet many other ways, right or wrong, were employed to earn it. Some of these means, which yielded good and quick returns, were ignoble, others, which were considered noble, yielded limited returns. Udyotana sūri has mentioned both these types of means in his work Kuvalaya malakaha (779 A. D.).
Ignoble Means
When Māyāditya and Sthānu thought of earning money, the question was how to earn it. Without money, Dharma and Kāma can not be achieved'i them Māyāditya suggested 'Friend, if it is so, let us move on to Varanasi. There we shall gamble, break into the houses, snatch the ear-rings, loot the passengers, pick the pockets, indulge in jugglery and cheat the people. In other words we would do every thing by which we can earn money.2 Sthānu was sorry to hear all this and he dubbed these means as ignoble as they were against gentlemanliness.
--( Hoe Mahanto doso 57.23).
Besides these means, earning money by selling creatures and animals was also regarded as ignoble in this work 8 The above means of earning money were prohibited by Jain writers on account of non-violent principles. In Dharmabindu and Upamitibhava-prapancakatha, the use of these means is prohibited. 4 Respectable Vocations
On being asked by Māyāditya, Sthānu described following noble means
1. Fant Ath fa........ defa hatari Etfag FF478 fa Kuv. 57. 12-15. 2. oe ga fart, at que, amrefer 1=21A
aai aforrit alfeht, wife छिण्णिमो, कूडं रइमो, जणं वंचमो, सम्वहा तहा तहा कुणिमो जह जहा अन्य संपत्ती होहिइ ति
57. 16-17. 3. 75-R3FHFHUT ara fafts of pyratai
# 276, Arfte are 1999 gfcat 11—241.28. 4. See, Rajasthan through the Ages--Dr. Dashrath Sharma.
इतिहास और पुरातत्त्व : १०९