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5 fundamental principles
11 social and socio-economic principles
Existence Leadership
Economic democracy Democracy
"State vs. private" Neo-humanism
Sarkar on Trade and Barter
Question: Say whether barter trade is suitable for an
advanced country or a backward country -- a developed, developing or
undeveloped country?
Answer: It is suitable for a developing country, but not where the
number of surplus goods -- say raw materials -- is limited or few in
number. Bangladesh has a surplus in jute and hide. For that country,
barter trade is suitable. Where the number of surplus goods is not much,
barter trade is not required.
-From “Questions and answers”, Prout In a Nutshell 18
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The meaning of the Sanskrit root verb krii is "exchange". An exchange
may be undertaken through either money or commodities. Suppose I give
someone a kilogram of rice and I get two kilograms of vegetables in
exchange. This is called a "purchase". Again, suppose I give someone
some cash and in exchange I get a certain amount of vegetables, say
spinach. Both these transactions come within the scope of "purchases".
In ancient Bengal, the exchange of commodities through barter was more
popular than exchange through money. In a village market near Bolpur in
Birbhum district, I once noticed a carpenter who came to sell yokes and
ploughs. He returned home with a brass container in exchange for a yoke.
In reply to my question, "How much did it cost you?" he said, "I got the
container in exchange for my yoke." The practice of the mutual exchange
of commodities in foreign trade is called "barter trade". In foreign
trade those countries, which have a large volume of very few commodities
to sell but many commodities to buy, will find barter trade profitable.
Otherwise their reserves of gold bullion may get exhausted very quickly.
Barter trade is advantageous for countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Malaysia, Kampuchea (Kamboja in Sanskrit) and Tibet.
Ancient Bengal had a large number of commodities to sell but very few to
buy, yet the Bengali merchants were fond of barter. (In ancient Bengal
much barter was conducted by the Gandhaban'ic and Suvarn'aban'ic
communities, but other merchants also took part.) The reason for this
preference for barter was that Bengal had a highly developed ship
industry. The Bengali carpenters and fishermen were very proficient in
marine industries. The merchants used to take their commodities overseas
in order to sell them. Had they carried on their business with money,
they would have had to sail their large ships back empty. But as they
were engaged in barter, they also returned with commodities. This was
one of the main reasons for the popularity of barter in Bengal in those
days. Regarding the flourishing barter trade of Bengal, it has been said,
Kuranga badale lavanga nibo kumkum badale chuya'Ga'chphal badale
ja'yphal pa'bo baher'a'r badale guva'"We shall accept cloves in exhange
for stag. We will accept paste for pollen. We will accept hot spices in
exchange for fruit. We shall accept medicinal fruits in exchange for
nuts."
The poet Mukunda Ra'm Cakravartii was a man of Ra'r'h in Bengal. In
those days, the people of Ra'r'h used to send only the surplus
commodities overseas for sale, and import only those commodities, which
were necessary for the people of Ra'r'h, such as cloves, medicinal fruit
and betel. Bengalis exported very fine rice (badsha bhog -- rice fit for
the consumption of monarchs used for preparing special rice dishes) from
Birbhum, Samantabhum, Senbhum, Mallabhum, Manbhum, etc., in western
Ra'r'h; and muslin from Visnupur. Large quantities of black woollen
blankets, fine sal furniture, Bengal gram, cotton cloth, sugar, raw
sugar, copper, copper goods, mustard oil and chillies were exported from
different parts of Bengal to Southeast Asia, Egypt and Europe. In
exchange for these commodities, which required a large space in their
ships, Bengali merchants used to bring back merchandise from overseas
countries. In exchange for exports which required very little space,
Bengali merchants used to bring back gold coins. In Bengal the
Sinhalpatan, Tamralipta and Chattagram or Chatigram ports were very
famous for trading in imports and exports. Dhumghat, Berachampa,
Mahisadal, Jiivankhali (Genyokhali-Miirjapur), Nalchiti and Jhalkathi
were medium-sized ports which were also used for imports and exports.
This shows that ancient Bengal conducted extensive trade and barter
trade.
-From Shabda Cayanika 10
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In very ancient times, that is, in the Rg Vedic period, civilization was
very backward. In that age there was no such thing as buying and selling
in the strict sense of the term. The system of exchange that was in
vogue in those days can best be called "barter". For instance, people
used to give some barley to someone (in those days people were not
acquainted with wheat or rice). In exchange they would get a container.
Again, in exchange for a sieve, someone would get some lentils. (In
those days people were not acquainted with cowpea. They were more
acquainted with legumes than with Bengal grams.) We can surmise that
this system of exchange continued for a long time. Later, people began
to feel some practical inconvenience because they were often not able to
get the items they badly needed, and there was no ready market to sell
the commodities that people produced. Under the circumstances, people
converted the commodities for exchange into some kind of standard wealth
to be used as needed. Thus, they began to think of media of exchange. In
India, the first medium of exchange used was seashells. These seashells
were the first coins. The most ancient root verb for the exchange of
commodities was krii, conjugated as kriin'iite. But when seashells were
first introduced as the medium of exchange, people felt the need to
distinguish this new type of transaction from ordinary barter
transactions. So when a transaction would be effected through an
exchange of commodities, the root verb krii (with the conjugation
kriin'iite) continued to be used. But when a transaction would be
effected through the medium of sea shells -- the system known today in
English as "buying" ("to purchase" can mean to get something through
barter, but "to buy" can only mean to get something with money) --
though the same root verb was used, it was conjugated as kriin'a'te.
Thus, towards the end of the Vedic Age the root verb krii became
ubhayapadii, conjugated in both the above ways. Pa'n'ini, the first
grammarian in the world, recognized the word ubhayapadii. Later
grammarians followed his lead.
From the Gupta Age onwards barter trade between different countries
continued, but in towns and cities it was greatly reduced, while the
buying and selling of commodities with money greatly increased. The use
of metal coins began to replace sea shells as media in an improved
system of exchange. Much later still, paper notes were introduced in
China. Since the Gupta Age, buying and selling has mostly been
undertaken through monetary exchange. The Sanskrit word mudra' became
"token" in English, meaning "something which is represented by a
medium". The inner meaning of the word "coin" is also token.
- From Shabda Cayanika' 11
All excerpts Copyright Ananda
Marga Publications 2004
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