State and Government in Ancient India c20.184

c20.184

It would be convenient here to consider how far the taxation in ancient India was fair, equitable and reasonable in actual practice. The general principles, which most of the Smṛitis prescribe in this connection, are all very admirable, as we have shown already. But the question we have to answer is how far they were actually followed in practice. We have to point out that the data in this connection are very poor and meagre. Royal panegyrists naturally represent the subjects as happy, contented and prosperous; on the other hand we often get clear evidence in literature and inscriptions to show that taxation very often pressed oppressively on the people. One Jātaka describes the pitiable condition of the people of a village, who had deserted their homesteads *en masse* to live in forests in order to escape the tyranny of the tax-gatherers.¹ King Lalitāditya of Kashmir is said to have recommended to his successors that they should tax the agriculturists so heavily that they should have with them corn just sufficient for the current year.² Under king Śaṅkaravarman of that kingdom we are told that the taxation was so heavy that people were left only with air to live upon.³ Instances are on record of the agriculturists of some villages in Tanjore district giving up all cultivation as a protest against heavy taxation.⁴ Under Kulottuṅga III, a feudatory of his imposed an unjust tax even on waste lands; the protests of the Assembly were of no avail. Members of the village council were imprisoned for failure to pay the dues and were released only when the amount was paid by selling away some land of the Assembly.⁵ Even the grantees of Brahmadeya villages often suffered from high-handedness and were made to stand in the sun or in water, and could get no relief against such ill-treatment.⁶