State and Government in Ancient India c20.162

c20.162

Cattle breeding was an important trade, especially in earlier times, and it had to bear its own share of taxation. When Manu requires a cattle breeder to pay 2% of the herd as the tax,⁶ he obviously thinks of the corpus of the herd. When Śukra imposes a duty of 6 to 12%, he probably refers to the increase in the herd effected during the year. Inscriptions on the other hand refer to a third method of taxation at a certain cash rate per head per cow, sheep or she-buffalo.⁷