History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.141.3

v2.c20.141.3

Note 275 shows that a brāhmaṇa engaging in agriculture had to pay ⅙th of the produce just as others did. An inscription of Vikramāditya V. found near Gadag dated śake 934 (1012 A. D.) refers to taxes levied even on upanayana, marriages and vedic sacrifices (E. I. vol. XX. pp. 64 and 70). The Śāntiparva (76. 2-10) contains an interesting disquisition on the taxation of brāhmaṇas. Those brāhmaṇas who have mastered all the lores and who treat all equally well are called brahmasama. Those brāhmaṇas who have studied the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda and Sāmaveda and who stick to the peculiar duties of their class are styled devasama (verses 2 and 3). A religious king should make those who are not śrotriyas and who do not kindle the sacred fires render taxes and forced labour (verse 5). Then certain brāhmaṇas are described as kṣatrasama and vaiśyasama. A king whose treasury is empty should levy taxes from all brāhmaṇas except those that are described as brahmasama and devasama.³²⁸ Even if these rules were honoured, the claim was not very excessive. The brāhmaṇas who ministered to the religious wants of the people and who were to conserve the religious literature and spiritual inheritance of the country and to teach without the liberty to make a contract for fees were never entitled to raise taxes from the people for their benefit. According to the practice of the Roman Catholic Church 'the clergy owed no allegiance to the secular power;