The Splendid Universe of Artisan Guilds in Ancient India

This episode introduces the magnificent world of artisan guilds in ancient India with details of their organisation, functioning and the laws and regulations governing them.

THE PREVIOUS EPISODE gave a list of twenty-seven professional or corporate guilds in ancient India.

At a high level, there was a clear difference between trading and merchant guilds on the one hand and guilds of artisans on the other.

To understand this in a clearer fashion, in that era, typically, hereditary families following certain branches of trade f…