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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Quick Lit | The Mouse Merchant
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Quick Lit | The Mouse Merchant

Tales of making, losing and seeking money

The Mouse Merchant—Money in Ancient India: By Arshia Sattar, Allen Lane, 191 pages, Rs 499Premium
The Mouse Merchant—Money in Ancient India: By Arshia Sattar, Allen Lane, 191 pages, Rs 499

Wealth check

Penguin’s series on the history of Indian business takes a detour in the fifth volume. While the first four books were non-fiction, looking at subjects such as the Tamil merchants of ancient India and the East India Company, The Mouse Merchant: Money in Ancient India is a collection of fables and stories curated and translated (for the most part) by Arshia Sattar.

Sattar draws on the Sanskrit universe of tales and epics many Indian readers are familiar with—such as the Panchatantra, Kathasaritsagara and Mahabharat. The theme running across stories, and some essays, is money and Indian attitudes towards wealth in ancient times.

As Gurcharan Das, the general editor of the series, says in the foreword, moneymaking is looked down upon in many cultures. In India, too, this is true to a large extent, with the ascetic who has renounced everything being seen as the hero or an ideal. There is much prejudice against the merchant, trader or seeker of wealth. It has been passed down the ages and can be seen in contemporary popular culture as well.

However, artha, or seeking wealth, is as much an aim of Hindu classical life as dharma (moral well-being), kama (love) and moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death). This collection is about the celebration of money. “To have money is to have life," says Sanudasa, a merchant and leader of a guild in one of the stories.

As opposed to many ancient Indian stories where the protagonists are knowledgeable Brahmins or brave Kshatriya warriors, the hero in most of these tales is the merchant. This collection is a counter narrative to the stereotypical one-dimensional presentation of merchants characterized by greed. Here, the traders and merchants are adventurers, travellers and lovers. Sanudasa’s story is comparable to that of Sinbad the Sailor from The Arabian Nights.

The relationship towards money is examined from different angles and characters. The merchant’s own life, for instance, is depicted from the viewpoint of his wife, who ensures continuity of lineage, and from that of the other woman, the courtesan, who adds to his glamour. There is a fascinating essay from The Kama Sutra, which talks about the ideal life of a gentleman, obviously moneyed, who does not have to toil for his bread.

The lack of wealth and attitudes towards poverty are also examined. A vignette from the Panchatantra points out how even a corpse knows well that a man is better dead than poor.

A section on gamblers looks at the famous dice game in Hindu culture—Yudhisthira gambling away his kingdom, and his wife. The more fascinating ones include a gambler’s lament and invocation to the gods in the Rig Veda, begging for a favourable roll of the dice. And another about an inveterate gambler called Thinthakarala, who challenged the gods to gamble with him. This is perhaps one of the few stories where the idea of dharma is trumped, and the scallywag protagonist gets away with it owing to his ingenuity.

The parallels to modern life are obvious in many tales and pointed out in the foreword: the duties of rulers and kings in levying low taxes and building infrastructure, the need to balance the quest for wealth with other values, and so on. The title tale talks about the need for innovation and ingenuity. Leave alone these take aways and morals, the tales in themselves are enjoyable. Even if you don’t find the next great business idea hidden in them, they are worth reading.

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Published: 01 Feb 2014, 12:43 AM IST
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