The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t2: Other items of rural revenue
The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t2
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Other items of rural revenue
c8.s3.t2.1
Other items of income which came under the category of rural revenue are mentioned. Piṇḍakara was a fixed commuted tax paid by the village community from time to time. Senābhaktam was a kind of punitive tax imposed on the country parts whenever the army was marching through them. It is natural to suppose that this was in kind, such as, oils and rice. Bali is another kind of impost on the land coming down from early Vedic times⁶ and seems to have been an annual contribution to the central exchequer.¹ It is again different from ṣaḍbhāga which is a separate tax though Kullūkabhaṭṭa takes both of them as one and the same tax.² It is not a religious tax as suggested by Shāmā Śāstri.³ This is again mentioned in the Lumbini inscription of Aśoka where it is said that Aśoka caused that village free from the impost of bali⁴ in honour of his visit to the place, and as already mentioned, further reduced the traditional ṣaḍbhāga into aṣṭabhāga.
c8.s3.t2.2
⁶ R. V. X, 173.
c8.s3.t2.3
¹ Manu, 7.80.
c8.s3.t2.4
² See the commentary on verse 30 of the chapter viii., Manu.
c8.s3.t2.5
³ Cp. Raghu, I.18.
c8.s3.t2.6
⁴ ubali (skt. ud-bali) has the analogous form ucchulka in the Ar. Śās., Bk. II, ch. 21. See Thomas, J.R.A.S., 1909 pp. 466-67.
c8.s3.t2.7
luṃmini-gāme ubalike kaṭe aṭha bhāgiyccha —Corpus, p. 164.
c8.s3.t2.8
The term ‘ca’ meaning ‘and’ connecting bali with aṣṭabhāga in the inscriptions is an evidence to show that separate taxes were meant. From this it is evident that Aśoka accepted and followed the system of revenue collection and fiscal policy enunciated by his grandfather Candragupta.
c8.s3.t2.9
Next comes kara which is apparently the share of produce from fruit and flower-gardens.⁵ Shāmā Śāstri’s interpretation as ‘contribution by subdued princes’ does not fit in at all. For, it must be remembered that it finds a place in the group of taxes arising from the rāṣṭra, literally, country parts.
c8.s3.t2.10
⁵ Gaṇpati Śāstri Ed., Vol. I, p. 230.
Linked texts (4)
- Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
- Rummindei (Lumbinī) pillar inscription — Prakrit