Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c6.157

c6.157

useful. There is another principle always to be adhered to. Taxation should be so regulated as not to bring unpopularity to the government. When realising his dues, the king should see that the subjects do not feel the pressure of want. Never is the treasury to be filled by unrighteous or covetous means. A king, notorious for a voracious appetite, is hated by his subjects. A tyrant flourishes only for a moment. He quickly meets with destruction like a flash of lightning which blazes only for a second. To fill the treasury by oppression is to invite ruin. All taxes, therefore, should be imposed gradually, in due season, in a conciliatory manner and according to due forms. The king should always protect and conciliate the Vaiśyas, behave towards them with leniency, inspire in them a sense of security and levy mild imposts on them. If the fiscal policy of the government encounters concerted resistance, the game of "divide and rule" is to be played with dexterity. It is impossible, we are told, to behave equally towards all men. The government should conciliate those that are foremost and then reduce the common people to obedience. Seeds of disunion should be sown among the people and then the king himself should come forward to conciliate them. Then let him enjoy in happiness what he succeeds in drawing from them. The treasury in which kings and their armies have their roots, must be constantly swelled. "Let thy barns, O king, be filled with corn." The treasury is filled neither by mildness nor by heartless cruelty but by pursuing a middle course.¹