Proceedings and papers of National Seminar on Jainology

Author(s): Yugalkishor Mishra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 59

Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 8
the purchase and sale of local commodities, and finally returned with merchandise fit for trade at Makandi.2 The text records the merchantile connections of Amarapura with Lakṣmi Nilaya, Suśarma Nagara, Vairāta Nagara, etc.3 Śrāvastand Ujjayini have been mentioned as centres of commercial activities visited by merchants from different directions. Despite references to long distance internal trade, the Samaraichchakahā does not indicate the existence of an organised mercantile complex during the period. The stories mostly give the impression of isolated efforts being made by traders in an atmosphere that was not congenial for trade and commerce. References to caravan trade, instead of contradicting this suggestion, support it. The uncertainties and the hostile climate made it incumbent upon the traders to move in groups. At one place in the text, the leader of the caravan, the sarthavaha, tells the fellow travellers, when they had gathered for the journey, the advantages of the route that he proposed to take and gave them a number of instructions for their guidance. These are, as suggested earlier, scattered references to contemporary trading activities and by their very nature they suggest the absence of any organized all-India trading network during this period. It is ironical to note that the text, despite numerous mentions of internal trading centres, is almost totally silent about the routes frequented by the merchants. Major trade-routes of the pre-A.D. 600 phase are not known, a fact that may suggest a significant decline in trade as these roads had certainly fallen into disuse by this period.
5
30
8
The road conditions were also bad, a fact that will suggest either the withdrawal from or lack of capacity of the political authority to control the situation. The traders were constantly threatened by robbers and petty feudal lords. "The Physical dangers of long-distance traffic had considerably increased owing to the activities of professional robbers also during the early medieval period."" Significantly Hiuan-tsang, who came to India in the 7th century AD, could not travel with such safety as Fa-hien, who had visited India in the Gupta period. This is an indubitable commentary on the growing insecurity of the highways. Many texts of the period, e.g. the Upamitibhavaprapanchakahā, the Kathāsaritasagara, the Triṣaṣṭiśalā kāpuruṣa-charita, etc., describe the travelling merchants' fear of robbers." The Samarāichakahā also refers to such dangers pointedly. The Sabaras, who had taken to dacoity and violence, often plundered the caravans, killed men and cows mercilessly, and captured people for high ransom. Though the Samaraichchakaha does not contain many mention of this group, yet it is certain that they, through their extremely violent and unorthodox posture, created an atmosphere of insecurity in the regions of the Vindhyas and the Aravalis as well as near the other forest and hilly regions where they lived.
10
11
12