The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s3.t6.1

c10.s3.t6.1

We are on more solid ground in regard to the legislation of Asoka's grandfather, Chandra-gupta,³ the founder of the Maurya House. Megasthenes (B. C. 302) was an eye-witness to the law about the license-tax paid by merchants and the tithes on sales. A person convicted of bearing false witness suffered mutilation of his extremities. He who maimed any one not only suffered in return the loss of the same limb but his hand also was cut off. If he caused an artisan to lose his hand or eye, he was put to death.⁴ The *Artha-śâstra* corroborates all these statements of the Greek. Laws of foreign trade regulating the customs duties are given in Kautilya's treatise.⁵ It describes also the laws relating to the sale of lands, escheat, the royalty from mines, and the terms on which salt, a government monopoly, could be manufactured by private capitalists.