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Local Government in Ancient India c13.s1: § 3. Local Finance

Local Government in Ancient India c13.s1

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§ 3. Local Finance

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THE manifold kinds of administrative activity shown by these ancient Indian local bodies, embracing not merely the sphere belonging to the ordinary and normal civil functions, but also that covered by much socialistic, philanthropic, and charitable work, undoubtedly imply the existence of an adequate public fund at the disposal of these institutions. We have some evidence on the subject in some of our Smṛti works. The sources of the corporation finances are thus indicated by Bṛhaspati (XVII. 24)¹: ‘Whatever is obtained or preserved by the members of a fellowship or earmarked for a particular purpose of the society or acquired through the king’s favour is common to all (members of the society).’ Another source of that joint-stock is indicated by Yājñavalkya (II. 190),² viz. the profits which an individual member of the association may earn in the execution of a public work entrusted to him by the association. These profits legally vest in the corporation, and cannot be appropriated by the individual who has reaped them. If he unlawfully appropriates them he has to refund eleven times the amount of the original profits as a penalty. Thus the sources of the public fund of corporations comprise the contributions of individual members, the gifts of the king, the profits earned on public works, and the proceeds from penalties which included confiscation of property for serious offences, as stated by Bṛhaspati and Yājñavalkya. But the *Vīramitrodaya* mentions an additional source of municipal revenue, viz. octroi duties on goods sold within municipal limits.¹ The *Vivādaratnākara*, in its chapter on immunities enjoyed by towns, also mentions some other sources such as those connected with the rights granted to the municipalities to import and export goods without the sanction of government (and thereby earning immunity from the necessary cesses), to levy a duty on goods carried on people's shoulders, and to decide disputes relative to the conduct of the minor associations existing within the municipal limits.² When these sources of municipal revenue proved inadequate, recourse was had to private borrowings or state help.

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¹ यत्तैः प्राप्तं रक्षितं च गणार्थं वा प्रकल्पितम्। राजप्रसादलब्धं च सर्वेषामेव तत्समम् ॥

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² समूहकार्यप्रहितो यल्लभेता तदप्पयेत् । एकादशगुणं दाप्यः यद्यसौ नार्पयेत्स्वयम् ॥

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¹ जनपदॆतु क्वचित् विक्रेतृसकाशात् शुल्कग्रहणमित्यनेकविधः समयो वर्तते ।

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² निष्क्रमणं प्रवेशेष्वनिवेदनम् स्कन्धवाह्येषु शुल्को गणसमयश्रेणीपूगव्यवहारनिष्ठा ।

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The utilization of this joint-stock was determined by the corporation itself either every month or six months in the manner following,³ viz. (*a*) by division among the members or partners of the association, or (*b*) by donations to the deserving, such as the infirm, diseased, distressed, blind, and idiotic, orphans and helpless women, or (*c*) by expenditure on such public works as might be decided upon by the guild. The division of the net joint-fund among the members was of course proportioned according to the amount contributed to the fund by each individual member (i. e. according to his share in the joint-stock). It is also clear from the words of Bṛhaspati cited above (p. 251) that all funds bestowed by the king on a single member of a corporation belonged to all or the entire body, thus showing the communistic principles on which the corporation was governed. All expenditure of the society, besides royal gifts, is similarly common to all.

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³ देयं निःस्ववृद्धान्धस्त्रीबालातुररोगिषु । सन्तानिकादिषु तथा एष धर्मः सनातनः ॥ ततो लभ्येत यत्किञ्चित् सर्वेषामेव तत्समम् । षाण्मासिकं मासिकं वा विभक्तव्यं यथांशतः ॥

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As usual the evidence of the south is far more copious and detailed than that of the north regarding local finance and the sources of rural revenue. Much of this revenue was no doubt due to the central government, and in collecting it, or tapping its sources, the assembly acted as mere agents or farmers of the royal revenue. It is, however, apparent from the evidence that the assembly had independent sources of revenue apart from those fixed by and due to the king. This is clear, for instance, from the following statement in an inscription relating to a grant of land for a temple :—‘Out of the money which this village has decided to levy from this land the money which accrues from the second crop assessment has to be deducted from the amount due by the village'. (*S.I.I.*, no. 86, vol. III, pt. II). No. 192 of Appendix C of 1919 shows how the assembly impose a special tax for the maintainance of a tank upon the lands irrigated by it, and the tax was to be collected by the tank committee of the assembly.

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The sources of village revenue, whether earmarked for the central government, or local, are variously described in different inscriptions. The charges on land seem to have been of two kinds. They might be dues of money (*kaḍamai*) and dues of labour (*kuḍimai*). The list of immunities or exemptions (*parihāra*) sanctioned in favour of lands consecrated to public or holy purposes indirectly indicates the possible sources of local taxation. One such list enumerates the following taxes, namely, duty on oil-presses and looms, tax on well-diggers, the fee in money on marriages, fee on potters, fee on goldsmiths, duty on toddy-drawers and shepherds, fee on stalls, brokerage fee, the fee levied for remunerating the man who brings orders from the king, the royalty paid for manufacturing salt, fee on a good cow and bull, fee on baskets of grain brought to the market, fee on areca-nuts in shops, &c. All these are receipts 'which the king could receive and enjoy within the boundary of a village.' Along with these exemptions certain privileges were also granted to such lands in a separate, written declaration or document termed *vyavasthā*, namely, permission to build mansions of burnt tiles, to grow red lilies in gardens, to plant coco-nut trees in groves, to sink reservoirs and wells, to erect large oil-presses, to prevent toddy-drawers from climbing the coco-nut and the palmyra trees and the like. Each of these items must have been a source of revenue to the local authorities (nos. 98 and 99, *S. I. I.*, vol. II, pt. V). Another interesting list of these local taxes is given in (no. 73, ibid., vol. II, pt. III). Every private proprietor of land had to pay, in addition to the charges enumerated above, the share of the king, of the Brāhmaṇas, of corn-ears, of the *karnam* who measures paddy, of the headman, &c.; taxes on pastures, best cow, best bull; the share of the taxes due from the village to the Nāḍu or the district (Nāḍu-Vagai); the share of the pay of the accountant and also of the king's minister or Adhikārin (the pay of this minister for local government being thus charged to the local rates); the tax on planting water-lilies, the share of the water-lilies, the fourth part of the trunks of old trees of various kinds including areca-palms and coco-nut trees; fines for digging river channels and inundation channels; water rates levied on water of such channels when utilized either by cutting branch channels or by means of levers or baskets; taxes on such marketable commodities as ghee and cloth; taxes on the practice of such professions as those of hunters, messengers, and dancing-girls. In another inscription, tolls or octroi duties and a tax for village police are mentioned among the independent sources of local revenue. It adds to the list of usual imposts those on the ascetics known as *ājīvakas* as well as the fish caught in tanks (nos. 59, 61, ibid., vol. I). Another inscription states that in the case of a village granted by the assembly, the assembly made it tax-free and decided that no forced labour would be demanded by them. This decision was agreed to by the annual supervision, tank, and garden committees.

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There were, however, certain portions of villages which were regarded as communal and as such exempted from taxation. These were:—‘The village site, the village tank and its banks, the portion occupied by the artisans and the pariahs, the burning-ground, the irrigation channels, temples and some specified shrines, ponds in the middle of fields, flower-gardens, streams, the portion occupied by toddy-drawers, the portion occupied by washermen, the water pond used by pariahs, the portion occupied by polluting castes, highroads, rivers, the sacred courts (i. e. temples), the cremation ground of the pariahs, the stone-fence (for cattle), the stables (*koṭṭagāram*), the village threshing-floor, grazingground for calves, wells and cisterns' (ibid., vol. II, part V, p. 19). Nos. 74 and 75 of 1887 enumerate the items of revenue payable in kind and cash, among which we find the following new ones, viz. stamp duty, tax on vehicles and contribution for Kārttikai festivals.

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We may now attempt a rough classification of the numerous sources of the revenue of local administration. The different sources are very well distinguished in no. 59 of 1914. The most important source of revenue is land; and its assessment will vary with its different uses or products. Thus it will vary according as the land is paddy field or newly reclaimed forest, or is dependent on irrigation. Lands producing different crops are also differently assessed. Turmeric, ginger, onions, garlic, &c., are classed together for purposes of assessment; so are brinjals, pumpkins, &c.; castor seeds, mustard, gram, wheat, paddy, &c., are also similarly assessed; and so forth. Plantains and sugar-cane are equally treated. Dry crops are considered separately by themselves, though there are different varieties, such as areca, coco-nut, and jack which are differently assessed. Trees other than these are not taxed. Next to this levy on land, we have the taxes on workshops and professions. Among the former are mentioned those of weavers (the assessment varying according to different looms, such as lace looms, &c.), the oil-monger, the blacksmith, the gold- and silversmiths, carpenter, potter, the brazier, &c. The shopkeeper has to pay a licence as also the barber and the washerman. It is interesting to note that such learned professions as those of judge and the member of the village council are also taxed together with that of the collector of tolls. Thus imposts were levied upon practically all the important economic pursuits developed in the rural areas, such as those connected with agriculture (including gardening and forestry), manufactures (arts and crafts), trade and the services rendered by bodily and mental labour.

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