Indian Epigraphy c16.s5.2

c16.s5.2

The Rummindei pillar inscription¹ of Aśoka states that, on the occasion of the emperor's visit to Lumbinīgrāma the birth-place of the Buddha, the holy place was made free from the obligation of paying *bali* (*udbalika*) and liable to pay only one-eighth of the produce of the fields (*aṣṭabhāgika*). The word *bali* has been used here apparently in the sense of land tribute excluding *bhāga* or the king's grain share. The normal rate of the king's share of grains seems to have been one-sixth for certain crops and one-fourth for others.² The income resulting from these exemptions was probably meant for being utilised for the maintenance of the holy place or the Buddhist religious establishment existing there.