Hindu Administrative Institutions c9.s1.1

c9.s1.1

(Revenue in ancient India was derived partly from taxation and partly from sources other than taxation. An appreciable proportion of revenue came from the land, the principle governing this being that a fixed share of the produce of the land should be given to the state either in cash or in kind, preferably the latter. It was generally one-sixth of the produce.) This seems to have been a *fixed* legal tax for the same rate is repeated in the epics, in law-books, the *Arthaśāstras* and even in miscellaneous literature including *kāvya* and the dramatic works.¹ On this account one of the king's names was the sixth-taker (*ṣaḍbhāgabhak*). In later times he was called *ṣadaṃśavṛtti*, one who depended for this living on the sixth part.² The classical Tamil work *Kural* mentions the same rate.³