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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
There were traders who went for trade only with the eatable commodities ( damtikka ) such as sweets, rice, wheat, oil, treacle, clarified butter and the different varieties of the food-grains. The other class of the merchants dealt with the costlier commodities like saffron, musk, asafoetida, tagara and other aromatic substances. 2 Our author, because of practical considerations, suggests the monks to prefer the caravan carrying the eatable articles. In case of unforeseen calamities the members of this class of caravan could at least manage to subsist upon the articles which were being carried for trade. Moreover, the caravans carrying the costlier commodities were more vulnerable to be robbed than those carrying cheaper commodities. *
The merchants went far and wide with their goods of trade including cheap and costly comrnodities. A standardization of the coinage of different regions, i.e. that of the Dakşiņāpatha, Kāñcipuri, Diva, Surat ha and Uttarāpatha”, must have been made for the proper evalution of the tradearticles. The clothes of eastern India ( puvvadesa ) were sold at a high price in the Lāța country. Clothes must have been exported from Mahissara which was a famous centre of spinning.? The articles like long pepper ( pippali ), yellow orpiment ( haritala ), red arsenic ( manosila ), salt ( loņa) etc. are mentioned to have been brought from long distances such as a hundred yojanas or more.8 The contemporary Jaina texts frequently refer to the merchants of different regions of north and south meeting each other with their 1. NC. 4, p. 111; Brh. V1, 3, p. 864. 2. Ibid. 3. NC. 4, p. 111. 4. The Vanik Sāgaradatta who was a dealer in precious pearls and jewels
(ratna-vanik) is mentioned to have acted like a mad person in order to safely cross the dense forests inhabited by the wild tribes.-NC. 3,
p. 87. 5. NC. 2, p. 95; Bth. V g. 4, pp. 10, 64. 6. NC. 2, p. 94. 7. NC. 3, p. 569. 8. NC. 3, p. 516; Bih. Vr. 2, p. 306.
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