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Lord Mahāvīra and His Times
of ghee or oil could be bought for a Kahapana only.1 Meat for a chameleon could be bought for a Kakini or an Addha-Māsaka," and a fish cost only seven Māshakas?. A jar of liquor was available for one Māshaka.4 It is further said that a Mashaka was sufficient for an ordinary wage-earner to buy a garland, perfume, and some strong drink.5 .
Animals of inferior quality were cheap while those of superior quality were costly. A thoroughbred horse cost 1,000 Kahāpanas a donkey only eight Kahāpanas? a pair of oxen 24 Kahapanas, a nice plump dog one Kahapana, and a cloak' and a dead mouse only one Kakini10. As far as the price of land is concerned, a monastic cell (vihāra) could be purchased for 500 Kahāpaņas.11 A play-hall for 600 boys constructed by voluntary labour is estimated to have cost 1,000 Kahāpanas.12 We are told that a partridge could be bought for one Kāhāvana13 and a cow for fifty coins ;14 the price of a blanket varied from 18 rüpakas to a hundred thousand rūpakas.15
There are numerous references that show how prices were determined by haggling.16 The act of exchange between the producer and dealer during this period was a free bargain, a transaction unregulated by any system of statute-fixed prices.17 There was no authority which could fix prices and force the traders to sell at the rate fixed. No doubt, there was an official of the state known as the court-valuer (Agghakāraka,
1. Vinaya, IV. 248-50. 2. Jā, VI. 346. 3. Ibid, II. 424. 4. Ibid, 1. 350. 6. Ibid, III. 4 16. 6. Ibid, II. 306. 7. Ibid, VI, 3:3. 8. Ibid, VI, 313. 9. Ibid, 11. 2-17. 10. Ibid, 1. 120. 11. Majjh, No. 52) I. 553. 12. Ja, VI. 332. 13. Des. cha, p. 55. 14. dra. chu, p. 117. 15. Oh, Cha, 3.3590. 16. Ju, 1.111-13, 193; 11, 299. 124-55; III, 126-27; VI, 113. 17. JRAAS, 1901, p. 874.
