Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c37.27

c37.27

The claim of the Śatapatha author is limited to a freedom from taxation in favour of the Brahmin. Vasishtha in his Dharma-Śāstra (I. 45),¹ on the authority of the comment of the Śatapatha, deduces the rule that a Brahmin should not be taxed, and gives a further reason that he pays his taxes by allowing one-sixth of his good deeds to the king! (1. 44). It seems that originally there was a difference of opinion between the Dharma school and the Artha school on the question of exemption claimed for the Vedic Brahmin The politicians did not admit the claim. The Mānava Artha-Śāstra (a work of authority referred to in the Mahā-Bhārata also, but not yet discoverd) is quoted by Somadeva in his Nītivākyāmṛita (C. VII.) which says that even those practising austerities in the forest and living by gleaning corn from the fields pay one-sixth of it to the king. It