State and Government in Ancient India c20.16

c20.16

The state derived its revenues from the agriculturists and cattle-breeders. The farmers paid a certain portion of the produce of the crops, the amount of which is not disclosed by the Vedic literature. The cattle-breeders formed a much more important class in the Vedic than in the succeeding ages, as the society was then just emerging from the pastoral stage. They paid taxes in the form of cows, bulls and horses,¹ a certain per cent. of the herds being claimed by the state.