The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c17.134

c17.134

The sources of revenue in the 7th century A.D. were the same as in the preceding ages. Yuan Chwang’s verdict that the taxes were light may be accepted. Agriculture was, of course, the dominant occupation of the people. “All till the ground for their subsistence.” We are told that those who cultivated the royal estates paid ⅙th of the produce as rent. Yuan Chwang perhaps seems to regard the whole territory directly governed by the king as his estates. Royal estates are opposed to feudatory domains where revenue would naturally be paid to feudal chiefs. The Madhuban Plate Inscription mentions the Gupta imposts—Udraṅga, Uparikara, Hiraṇya, etc. Next to the land revenue, customs formed the most important head of receipt. In the Madhuban Plates there is a tax on things sold. It seems that merchants were required to pay some additional tolls at the ferries and fords on the rivers and at many points on the highways. From some passages in Bāṇa it is clear that some of the feudatories, for instance, hill chieftains, paid tribute. Presents came from all who had any occasion to see the king. Bāṇa himself was, for a while, refused admittance to the king's presence, because he had not offered his tribute of respect which, in the context, can only mean a present. In another passage Bāṇa implies that even villagers made presents to the king when he passed through their habitations. It appears that even under excellent kings the collection of regular taxes sometimes led to oppression by petty officials. On one occasion in Harṣacarita, people bitterly complain against revenue and police officials.¹