The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c7.120

c7.120

The fiscal arrangements of this period are even more obscure than the judicial. In the tenth Maṇḍala of the Rigveda, the king is called the sole taker of taxes from the people.¹ In the Atharvaveda he can eat the Viś, that is, levy heavy exactions on his subjects at will.² It appears from the Taittirīya Saṃhitâ that there was no communal ownership of land, that fields were held by individuals or families and that possession was sometimes disputed.³ It seems that the land was the principal source of revenue and that regular officers had been appointed for the collection.