A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c9.29

c9.29

∗ Ibid pp. 22-23. In the above extract the portion relating to the address of the first spy is translated by Dr. Shamasastry as follows :—" This king is said to be endowed with all desirable qualities; he seems to be a stranger to such tendencies as would lead him to oppress citizens and country people by levying heavy fines and taxes." We hold this version to be hardly satisfactory. 'Ayam rāja,' we think, should be interpreted as 'ayam rājapadavāchyo janaḥ' and translated as 'this class of kings,' otherwise the following lines which evidently are of the nature of a contradiction (pratiṣedhana) would be pointless. We are also of opinion that in the words 'yaḥ pīḍayati,' 'yaḥ' stands not for 'ayam,' this class of kings, but for 'guṇaḥ' quality, and that the verb 'pīḍayati' is used in a causative sense. In the latter part of the foregoing extract the term 'bhāgadheya' is translated by Prof. D. R. Bhandarkar (op. cit. p. 119) as share. We think that the term as here used is the technical designation of a specific kind of taxes, such as the sixth part of the agricultural produce. Cf. the following quotation from an unknown Arthaśāstra in Kṣīrasvāmin's commentary on the Amarakoṣa II 8. 27 : rājagrāhyaḥ ṣaḍbhāgādiḥ bhāgaḥ pratyekam sthāvarajaṅgamādādeyaḥ karaḥ niyojyopajīvyo baliḥ.