Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c46.3

c46.3

That the constitutional law of taxation was a living law regulating life, is borne out by pieces of historical evidence. For instance, in the inscription of Queen Balaśrī of the Sātavāhana family, it is proclaimed that *her son levied taxes in accordance with the sacred law*. Other inscriptions point to the same conclusion.¹ Literature has some curious instances proving the inviolability of the taxes fixed by the law. Chandragupta the Great had to raise money, presumably for his intended war with Seleukos. He and his great Chancellor Kauṭilya were at their wit's end to collect a sufficient amount of money; the legal taxes were not productive enough for the purpose. They had to, as is evident from the Artha-Śāstra, take recourse to odd methods, which demonstrate the majesty of the law on the one hand and the inconvenience of a rigid legal revenue on the other. Chandragupta asked his people to give him money as a 'token of affection' (*Praṇaya*). He also raised money from temples.¹ Patañjali writing under the reign of Pushymitra while commenting on Pāṇini, V. 3. 99., humorously remarked that the Mauryas who wanted gold raised it by instituting images of gods for worship.² In the Jaina tradition, Chāṇakya is alleged to have issued eight hundred million debased silver coins called *kārshāpaṇas* to fill the treasury. All these facts indicate a very great urgency, and at the same time a scrupulous respect for the letter of the law.