[Advaita-l] Interest Collection is Wrong according to Dharma?

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Tue Jul 2 12:14:32 CDT 2013


On Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 9:46 PM, R Krishnamoorthy <srirudra at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dears
> To my knowledge there was no lending on interest in Vedic days.Borrowings
> were there but only confined to repayment of the principal or giving back
> the borrowed article.There is no equivalent word for interest in
> Samskrit.


I do not know if it is a derived term, but in the Apte English-Sanskrit
dictionary we have entries: ’interest: वृद्धिः, वार्द्धुष्यम्,  'simple
interest: सरलवृद्धिः, compound interest: चक्रवृद्धिः, ’interest at 5% =
पंचकेन शतेन, पंचकशतम्, पंचोत्तरं शतम् .

I think the Tamil and Kannada words 'vaDDi/baDDi' to denote interest have
their roots in the Sanskrit word 'vRddhiH' which means
'growth/multiplication' of money.

see also this page:

http://sabhlokcity.com/2012/08/notes-on-hindu-capitalism-continued-3/

regards
subrahmanian.v

Meadows Taylor tells us: "The laws of Manu disclose how thoroughly the
scheme of banking was known 3,000 years ago. The bankers understood and
followed the fluctuations of money value; they kept account-books,
day-books, and ledgers by single and double entry. They charged interest
simple and compound, they made insurance by sea and land, they granted
bills of ex­change, and in short, they followed the practices of modern
times which are little changed from ancient rules." - See more at:
http://sabhlokcity.com/2012/08/notes-on-hindu-capitalism-continued-3/#sthash.rk7Hjv5T.dpuf
adows Taylor tells us: "The laws of Manu disclose how thoroughly the scheme
of banking was known 3,000 years ago. The bankers understood and followed
the fluctuations of money value; they kept account-books, day-books, and
ledgers by single and double entry. They charged interest simple and
compound, they made insurance by sea and land, they granted bills of
ex­change, and in short, they followed the practices of modern times which
are little changed from ancient rules." - See more at:
http://sabhlokcity.com/2012/08/notes-on-hindu-capitalism-continued-3/#sthash.rk7Hjv5T.dpuf

Meadows Taylor tells us: "The laws of Manu disclose how thoroughly the
scheme of banking was known 3,000 years ago. The bankers understood and
followed the fluctuations of money value; they kept account-books,
day-books, and ledgers by single and double entry. They charged interest
simple and compound, they made insurance by sea and land, they granted
bills of ex­change, and in short, they followed the practices of modern
times which are little changed from ancient rules." - See more at:
http://sabhlokcity.com/2012/08/notes-on-hindu-capitalism-continued-3/#sthash.rk7Hjv5T.dpuf




> Aparadham was there if some promise is not fulfilled.But no
> percentage on principal amount.I may be corrected.R.Krishnamoorthy.
>
> On Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 9:22 PM, Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com
> >wrote:
>
> > I recently proof-read a book on Dharmasastra called Katyayanamatasangraha
> > dealing with litigation (व्यवहार) - and it cites many examples of
> interest
> > taking. There are rules as to when simple interest should be charged, and
> > when compounding should be resorted to. Oftentimes 5% per month is
> > prescribed as the interest that should be charged when whatever ought to
> be
> > done (within a certain time) is not done. I am not giving references
> > because they are too many and the assertion that interest-charging was
> both
> > common and well-discussed in Dharmasastra works is usually not contested
> > (and also because I do not have much time at hand presently).
> >
> > Then, there is the modern dictum that one ought to never belittle anybody
> > from the wife's side, deservedly or undeservedly, if one wants peace. I
> > believe this is the more forceful principle :-).
> >
> > Regards
> > N. Siva Senani
> >
> >
> >
> > >________________________________
> > > From: Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>
> > >To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> > >Sent: Tuesday, 2 July 2013 8:42 PM
> > >Subject: [Advaita-l] Interest Collection is Wrong according to Dharma?
> >  >
> > >
> > >Namaste
> > >
> > >Book Micro economic Theory by Walter Nicholson page 9 -
> > >
> > >'For example, St. Thomas Aquinas believed value to be divinely
> determined.
> > >Since
> > >prices were set by humans, it was possible for the price of a commodity
> to
> > >differ
> > >from its value. A person accused of charging a price in excess of a
> good’s
> > >value was
> > >guilty of charging an “unjust” price. For example, St. Thomas believed
> the
> > >“just”
> > >rate of interest to be zero.'
> > >
> > >In Muslim religion also they say you should not charge any interest for
> > >loans.
> > >
> > >Like this is there any Dharma Sastra rule in Hinduism for charging
> > interest
> > >on loans?
> > >
> > >
> > >My wife's cousin's grand father was very religious Brahmin but he was
> > money
> > >lender. He was charging heavy interest to all people.
> > >
> > >--
> > >Regards
> > >
> > >-Venkatesh
> > >_______________________________________________
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