________________
112
TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
Kāśi was evidently a great centre of trade and industry, and a most populous and prosperous country. Frequent mention is made of caravans leaving Kāśi to travel for trade. One highway went through Kāśī to Rājagrha, 1 and another to Srāvasti 2; and there was also direct trade between Kāśi and Taksaśīlā.3 We read of a trader of Benares who went with 500 carts to a frontier country and bought sandal wood"; and of another trader who was going to Srāvasti with five hundred carts full of red cloth, but could not cross the river as it was in flood, and had to stay on the near side to sell his goods. The merchants of Benares used to go about hawking goods, which were carried by donkeys.6 Horse dealers from northern districts used to bring horses to Benares for sale.? Sindh horses were available in Benares, and were used as the royal horses of ceremony.8 In Benares, too, there were skilled elephant trainers,' and corn merchants. 10
In Benares fine cloths widely known as Kāśi cloths were manufactured, and Kāśi robes were most highly esteemed as gifts, each robe being valued at one hundred thousand.11 Mention is also made of the perfumes of Kāśi [Kāsi-vilepana-Jātaka, I, 355; and Kāsicandana-Arguttara Nikāya, III, 391; Udāna Comm. (P.T.S.), 332].
At Benares there was a rich banker named Mahādhanasetthi. His parents taught him dancing and music, and he married the daughter of another rich banker, and of similar education. Mahādhana became addicted to drink and gambling, with the result that he lost his own wealth as well as his wife's, being finally reduced to begging for alms. 12 In general, however, the merchants of Benares must have been highly respected, for we read in the Divyāvadāna (p. 100) that after the death of Priyasena, the chief merchant, Brahmadatta, king of Kāśī, appointed Supriya chief merchant of the royal court; and after Brahmadatta's death, the ministers anointed Supriya king (p. 121).
There was in Benares a market known as the ivory workers' bazar, where ivory articles were sold.13 There were also stone cutters or experts in working stone-quarrying and shaping stones. 14
1 Vinaya, I, 212.
2 Ibid., II. 3 Dhammapada Comm., III, 445. 4 Suttani pāta Comm., Vol. II, pp. 523ff. 5 Dhammapada Comm., Vol. III, p. 429. 6 Jataka, II, p. 109; Dhammapada Comm., Vol, I, P. 123. 7 Jätaka, II, p. 287.
8. Ibid., II, 338. 9 Ibid., II, p. 221.
10 Ibid., III, p. 198. 11 Ibid., V, p. 377; Lalitavistara (Lefmann), p. 215. Buddhist Suttas, S.B.E., XI, P. 92; Jataka, VÍ, I5I, 450. 12 Dhammapada Comm., Vol. III, p. 429.
13 Jataka, II, p. I97. 14 Ibid., I, p. 478.
