State and Government in Ancient India c20.86

c20.86

The evidence to show that the land tax was usually paid in kind is overwhelming. The very term used to denote it, *bhāgakara*, the tax in the form of a share, suggests that it was paid as a part of what was actually produced in the field. In the Jātakas the tax collecting officer is called *droṇamāpaka*, 'the measurer of the corn by the *droṇa* measure'. They also narrate the stories of overscrupulous land-owners regretting their conduct in casually taking a handful of rice blades from their own fields, because the king would not thereby get a share in that part they had thus removed earlier;¹ the *Arthaśāstra* imposes a fine for such a conduct.² State used to have huge granaries at different centres, where the corn collected in taxes was stored. Officers in their charge used to dispose of it before its quality started to deteriorate on account of the action of time or insects.³