Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t6.3

c4.t6.3

Nothing is said in the stories directly about the way in which the king's expenses were met. There was no 'Civil List' as in the *Arthaśāstra*,² The revenues and taxes, however, were mainly used to maintain the royal establishment. Of course various officials of the state, though not so large in number as we find them in Kauṭilya's time and later, had to be paid. Some of them were paid in cash (*vetana*),³ as we have seen, while all the important state-officers, such as the *purohita* and the *Senāpati*, were endowed with revenue-villages (*bhogagāmas*).⁴ A considerable amount was spent in charity⁵ towards the aged, the disabled and the starving, and above all to the Brāhmaṇas and the ascetics (*samaṇabrāhmaṇā*).