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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c7.s5: Other Sources of Income

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c7.s5

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Other Sources of Income

c7.s5.1

There were various other sources of income to the State. Eighteen kinds of taxes are mentioned in the Jain texts :—taxes from cows (*go*), buffaloes (*mahisa*), camels (*uṭṭi*), cattle (*pasu*), goats (*chagali*), grass (*taṇa*), *palāla* grass (*puvāl* in Hindi), chaff (*busa*), wood (*kaṭṭha*) coal (*aṅgāra*), plough (*sīyā*), threshold (*umbara*, com. *dehalī*),⁷ pasture-ground (*jaṅghā* or *jaṅgā*), bullocks (*balwadda*), earthen pots (*ghaya*) hides and skins (*camma*), food (cullaga) and any other tax imposed by will (uppatti, com. svecchayā-kalpita).⁸ The tax collectors (suṅkapāla) are mentioned.⁹ Besides, there were other sources of income to the State. The Nāyādhammakahā mentions a jeweller of Rāyagiha who wanted to build a lake in the town. He visited the king with precious gifts and got his permission to do so.¹⁰ Then we hear of a goldsmith Kumāranandi of Campā, who wanted to go to the island of Pañcasela. He visited the king with a precious gift of gold and got his sanction for making an announcement to that effect.¹¹ Unclaimed property and treasure-trove were other sources of income to the king. We are told of the king Vijayasena of Candrakāntā, who, hearing the death of a certain merchant, deputed his officers and took possession of his property.¹² The Nisītha cūrṇi refers to a certain king who punished a certain merchant and confiscated the treasure-trove which he had discovered. The same king is said to have honoured a Brāhmaṇa who discovered a similar treasure-trove.¹³ Fines and forfeitures formed another plentiful source of income. The commentary on the Bṛhatkalpa Bhāṣya refers to an imposition of a fine of eighty thousand rūpakas on one who raised his sword or any other weapon to kill another person. However, if a person attacked did not die of the stroke, the amount of fine varied from country to country. In Ānandapura, for example, for such an offence a person had to pay a sum of rupees five only; for a serious quarrel, however, a sum of rupees twelve and a half was fined.¹⁴

c7.s5.2

⁷ This tax is also mentioned in the *Brh. Bhā.*, 3, 4770.

c7.s5.3

⁸ Ava. Nir., 1071 f. (Harī.) ; also Com. by Malayagiri, p 596. The Brāhmanic literature mentions the taxes from the office of State goldsmith, the institution of prostitutes, building sites, guilds of artisans, handicrafts, religious and charitable endowments, water tax, income tax, flowers, fruits and vegetable gardens, game forests, timber and elephant forests, heads of cattle, asses, camels, horses, hides and skins, etc., Dikshitar, op. cit., p 176.

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⁹ Uttarā. Ṭī., 3. p. 71.

c7.s5.5

¹⁰ 13, p. 142.

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¹¹ Uttarā. Ṭī., 18. p. 251a.

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¹² Kalpa Ṭī., 1. p. 7, cf; Vinaya, iii, 11. 21 ; Avadāna Śataka, I, 3, p. 13 ; also Mayhaka Jātaka (No. 390), III, p. 299 f.

c7.s5.8

¹³ 20. p. 1281. Cf.Gautama, X. 44 ; Yājñavalkya Smṛti (II, 2.34 f), Manu, VII, 133

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¹⁴ 4. 5104.

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