History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.446

v4.c62.446

A question may be asked: what were the means of preventing a king from being over-exacting and tyrannical in his taxes? Kauṭ. (VII. 5. pp. 276–277) cites at great length the causes that lead to the impoverishment of the subjects, to their being greedy and disaffected. Among these he mentions²⁵⁶ 'not paying what ought to be paid and exacting what ought not to be exacted, not punishing the guilty and severely punishing the guilty, not protecting the people against thieves and robbing them of their wealth'. He then states that when the subjects become impoverished they become greedy and when greedy they become disaffected and voluntarily go over to the side of the king's enemy or destroy their own king. In another place Kauṭilya (XIII. 1) suggests ²⁵⁷ that a conqueror may employ spies who should encourage the subjects of his enemy suffering from famine, depredations of thieves and wild tribes to tell their king, 'we shall beg the king for favours (remission of taxes or help in the way of seeds &c.) but if he does not agree to bestow favours we shall go to another country'. So the threat of disaffection and migrating to another country were the deterrents against the tyranny of heavy taxation according to Kauṭilya. Śānti 87. 36 says 257a that if the vaiśyas (*gominah*, who bore the brunt of taxation) were neglected, they may disappear from the country and dwell in forests. Manu (VII. 111-112) warns kings who through folly rashly oppress their kingdoms that they may ere long lose their own lives and those of their relatives and also their kingdoms. Yāj. (I. 340-341) is even more emphatic and says that the king who seeks to increase his treasury with wealth extracted by unjust means from his realm loses his wealth in no time and meets destruction along with his relatives. 'The fire springing from the wrath caused by the harassment of the subjects does not cease without burning the family, the wealth and the life of the king.' Kātyāyana (v. 19) harps on the spiritual consequences: 'the king who unjustly takes from his kingdom taxes, fines, share of crops and tolls, incurs ²⁵⁸ sin.' Śukra ²⁵⁹ (II. 319-321 and 370) emphasizes the keeping of daily, monthly and yearly accounts and the entering of the several items of income on the left side of the account and of those of expenditure on the right. The Nītivākyāmṛta 259a refers to the appointment of auditors when there is discrepancy in the items of income and expenditure.