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The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t12: 3. The Domesday Surveys of the Hindus

The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t12

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3. The Domesday Surveys of the Hindus

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The principle of centralization that was observed in the management of the army and the navy was manifest also in the administration of public finance and other branches of civil government. The village was, as we have seen, the unit for purposes of military organization. It was the unit for revenue and police purposes as well. The member at the lowest step in the bureaucratic system was known as the *gopa*. This magistrate-collector was placed in charge of five or ten villages and was ultimately responsible to the *samâhartâ*, the collector-general. As the rural limb of the imperial civil service, it was the duty of the *gopa*⁴ to maintain the boundary marks not only of villages, but also of fields, gardens, roads, pasture lands, assembly halls, irrigation works, cremation grounds, charitable houses, temples, groves and bathing places.

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⁴ *Artha*, Book II, Ch. xxxv; *Ind. Ant.* 1905, p. 5.

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He had personally to supervise the transactions of gift, sale or mortgage of lands and other properties of the villagers. He used to keep a register giving in detail the number of souls living in each house. The people were classified by him according to castes and occupations such as agriculture, pasturage, trade, arts, manufactures, manual labor and menial service. This census¹ and vital statistics was all-inclusive. It was applicable also to slaves, quadrupeds, and birds maintained in each household. And, of course, in the same register the *gopa* had to note not only the amount of taxes and tolls that each house had to pay to the government, but also the probable dues in working men and fines.

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¹ Law's *Hind. Pol.*, pp. 106—114 (Census).

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These comprehensive inquiries made by the village officer of the Maurya Empire could be copied *in toto* in Europe over thirteen hundred years later. The items of information which William the Conqueror needed for his *Domesday Book* (1086) in order to get a complete idea of the "geldable" (taxable) resources of England were identical with those mentioned by the Hindu Richelieu. "What is the name of this manor?" as the *Inquisitio Eliensis*² or the *questionnaire* of the Norman Duke who wanted to prevent in English society the disruptive tendencies of continental feudalism proceeds, "Who held it in the time of King Edward? Who holds it now? How many acres are there? How many ploughs belong to the lord of the manor? How many belong to the villeins, cottars, slaves, freeman, and sokemen? How much woodland is there? How much meadow? How much pasture? How many mills and fisheries are there? How much has been added to or taken away from the estate? How much was the estate formerly worth? How much is it worth now? How much has or had each freeman or sokeman there? Could it be made worth any more?" There was nothing distinctively Occidental in the queries. These had been anticipated by the political genius of Asia.

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² *Domesday Commemoration* (1086—1886): *Domesday Studies*, Vol. I, pp. 7—8; Maitland's *Domesday Book and Beyond*, p. 24.

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Moreover, a curious chronological coincidence is to be noted between the East and the West. In 1086, the very year of the English Domesday inquiry, a second survey of the Chola dominions was instituted by Kulot-tûnga I. the Chola-Châlukya.³ On the occasion of this re-survey the tolls were abolished, but in certain cases we notice an enhancement of the rates. The re-adjustment was evidently in high request as some lands had been over-assessed in the previous settlement which was organized by Râjarâja about a century previous to this date. The first survey (*c* 986) was so minute that accuracy was guaranteed to 1/(50,000) th of a square inch.¹ There were two kinds of assessment. One was known as "calculated" (i. e. according to previous surveys) the other as "settled" (i. e. according to the actual yield). It was by this Instrument of Râja-râja that the village assemblies were authorized to take possession of lands whose owners failed to pay the government dues for three years. It may be observed here, in passing, that the dues were collected in kind, or in gold or in cloth.

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³ Aiyangar, 144, 149—150, 176; *Epigraphist's Report* for 1900, sec. 25, p. 10.

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¹ Aiyangar, 175—177.

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