State and Government in Ancient India c20.233

c20.233

Reserve fund or treasury claimed 16⅔% of the revenues. It has been observed by a number of Muslim authors how it was customary for Hindu rulers to have large treasures handed down by their predecessors, which they would touch only on very grave occasions. Public or state loans were unknown, and the state could tide over a crisis only if it had a rich treasury and full and overflowing granaries. The huge booties which Alaud·din and Malik Kafur obtained in the Deccan show that, as mentioned by Muslim historians, Hindu states used to set apart a large percentage of their revenues as reserve fund to be kept in their treasuries for the purpose of emergencies.