The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.67

v1.c19.s9.67

We have no direct evidence of such a tithe or other tax being levied on the commonwealth by any of the republics or oligarchies mentioned in the Buddhist canon, such as the Sākiyas, Koliyas, Licchavis, Mallas, etc.¹⁵ But that they did so raise the state revenue, in the case at least of the Sākiyas, seems to be attested by Asoka’s inscription on the Lumbinī or Rummindeī pillar¹⁶. The tithe thus remitted on the occasion of Asoka’s visit to the birthplace of the Buddha, must have been imposed by the Sākiyas at a date prior to the Mauryan hegemony. The Sākiyas and other republics are recorded as meeting for political business at their own mote-halls¹⁷, and must inevitably have had a financial policy to discuss and carry out. That their enactments could be somewhat drastically paternal appears in the case of the Malla clansmen of Kusinārā, who imposed a fine of 500 (pieces) on anyone who ‘went not forth to welcome the Blessed One’ when he drew near, on his tour, to their town¹. These Mallas were also possessed of a mote-hall (*santhāgāra*) for parliamentary discussions²—a class of buildings illustrated by the bas-relief of a celestial House of Lords on the Bhārhut Stūpa³.