The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t3.7

c8.s3.t3.7

The income under this head of trade and commerce included tolls which varied according as the articles were necessaries or luxuries—;⁶ *dvāradeya* (literally, the gate dues), road-cess probably collected by the *antapāla*⁷ and profits earned from weaving and spinning. This last was pursued by women of different castes and age for both, time and piece, wages.⁸ Under this head came also incomes from ocean, and river, traffic. Fishermen generally paid one-sixth of the value of their haul. Customs duties were levied on ships touching the port towns. Income also came from coastal traffic.¹ Ferry dues (*taradeya*), tax on markets (*paṭṭanam*),² fee from licences of different kinds of passports, tax from the guilds of the artisan classes (*kāruśilpigaṇaḥ*), monopoly of income from salt and other commodities, tended to swell the revenues of the State from commerce. Special mention may be made here of the encouragement given by the State for exports of indigenous goods.³