Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s5.t3.6

v1.c10.s5.t3.6

The principle of levying taxes from the people by the king only on condition that he assures them protection, which is thus enunciated by Manu, is also found in the codes of the later lawgivers. "Let the king," we are told in the Institutes of Baudhayana, "protect (his) subjects, receiving as his pay a sixth part (of their income or spiritual merit.)"³ The right of levying one-sixth of the produce sanctioned by Manu is seen in the Mahābhārata as well as in the code of Nārada. In the former the revenue which the king receives is in direct relation to the protection afforded by him to the people. "With a sixth part, upon fair calculation, of the yield of the soil, as his tribute, with fines and forfeitures levied upon offenders, with the imports, according to the scriptures, upon merchants and traders in return for the protection granted to them, a king should fill his treasury".⁴ Nārada merely repeats the injunction of Manu in the following words: "Both the other customary receipts of a king and what is called the sixth part of the produce of the soil, form the royal revenue, the reward (of a king), for the protection of his subjects".⁵ Kauṭilya has laid down the following rule: "People. . . allotted one-sixth of the grains and one-tenth of merchandise as sovereign dues. Fed by this payment, kings took upon themselves the responsibility of maintaining the safety and security of their subjects. . . .¹ The famous Mādhavācārya Vidyāraṇya is also inclined to follow Kauṭilya in this matter. In his work Parāśara-smṛiti (also known as Vidyāraṇya-smṛiti), he assigns the usual one-sixth as the royal share of the crop.²