The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s4.54

c2.s4.54

*It is said in the second book that there are five general officers of the military caste in each town as collectors. What their exact functions were the Epic does not say (*kac cic chūrāḥ kṛtaprajñāḥ pañca pañca svanuṣṭhitāḥ, kṣemaṃ kurvanti saṃhatya rājan janapade tava*, ii. 5. 80; the contest shows that *pañca* refers to officers of towns). I suspect that collecting here refers to collecting the regular taxes. One thousand villages given away as a ‘means of livelihood’ is not uncommon in the time of the empires: compare e. g. R. ii. 31. 16. According to Manu the lord of ten villages has as much as can be cultivated by twelve oxen; of twenty villages, by five times that; of one hundred, the produce of a village; of a thousand, the revenue of a town. This certainly seems an older version than that of the Epic. The word *kula*, here employed, land enough for a family, is interpreted by the commentators as ‘what can be ploughed by twelve oxen.’