Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.82

c8.82

Commerce formed one of the chief sources of revenue. The customs are so regulated by Kautalya as to secure the effective control of the market. All sales must be transacted in the market-place. All exports and imports are taxed,—imports generally 20 % ad valorem. On flowers, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbous roots, dried meat and dried fish, 16⅔ % is charged; on fibrous garments, cotton cloths, silk, mail armour, red arsenic, vermilion, metals, colouring ingredients, sandals, pungents, ferments, dress, and so forth; wine, ivory, skins, raw materials for fibrous or cotton garments, carpets or curtains; products from worms, goats or sheep—10 or 6⅔ %; on some cloths, quadrupeds, bipeds, threads, cotton, scents medicines, wood, bamboo, fibres, skins, clay-pots, grains, oils, sugar, salt, liquor, cooked rice and so forth, five or four per cent. The tolls on conch-shells, diamonds, precious stones, pearls, corals, and necklaces should be determined by experts on the "time, cost, and finish" of their production. One-fifth of the tolls should be paid at the gate, but the total amount may be remitted in certain contingencies. Close to the principal gate of the city stood the toll-house waving its flag towards the north or the south. As the merchants came in with their stock, sealed at the outset or somewhere on the way, they told the officers their names, their homes, the amount of their merchandise, and the place of the first seal-mark. Those who had evaded the first seal should pay twice the toll; and those who counterfeited it, eight times as much. All commodities had to be precisely weighed, measured or numbered, before sale. Beneath the flag of the toll-house, the merchants should declare in all solemnity the quantity and the price of the goods. Thrice they should cry out, "who will purchase this quantity of merchandise for this amount in price?" If a single customer offered the stated price, the transaction was at once complete. But if several persons volunteered to purchase, the highest bidder had the preference. The excess over the declared price, however, goes, not into the seller's pockets, but into the king's treasury. Sometimes the state was content with only as much of it as the amount of the toll. Frequent cases occurred of fraudulent collusion between merchants and 'purchasers' to defeat the intents of the customs-house. If, in order to avoid a heavy toll, the merchant understated the quantity or price of his stock, he was fined the difference, and eight times the toll. Those who tried to evade the tolls were likewise fined eight times the amount. It was further laid down that lies in all these affairs were tantamount to thefts, and false swearing was to be punished with the first amercement. In certain other instances, smuggling was punished with the forfeiture of the article and a fine equal to its value. The importation of weapons, mail armour, metals, chariots, precious stones, grains and cattle, was either a state monopoly or subject to control. Those who imported them forfeited the stock and received other chastisement.