The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.170

c12.170

Into Aśoka’s fiscal system, the Rumindei Pillar Inscription affords just a passing glimpse. He made the village of Lummini free of taxes and required it to pay only an eighth share of the produce. It seems that every village besides paying a share of the gross produce had to pay other taxes as well, a surmise which is fully borne out by later evidence. If Aśoka is reducing the land revenue from Lummini to one-eighth of the gross produce, it may be inferred that the usual rate was higher. It might have been in the neighbourhood of the Hindu traditional one-sixth. A later notice in the Samantapāsādikā shows that customs yielded a big amount. Aśoka’s daily income from the four gates of the city of Pâṭaliputra seems to have been 4,00,000 kahâpaṇas. It is also said that he used to get 1,00,000 kahâpaṇas daily in the Sabhâ but this is difficult of interpretation. It may mean revenue from other sources.¹