The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t23.9

c11.t23.9

The fortified cities contributed to the imperial exchequer under twenty different heads. These were toll, fines, weights and measures, jails, currency, passports, excise, slaughter-houses, oils, *ghî* (clarified butter), salt, goldsmiths, commerce, courtesans, gambling, house-building, artisans, gate-dues, and religious institutions. There were special taxes on a people called Bahârikas. They appear to have been mercenary soldiers or some wealthy community living at Nâlandâ, the famous university town of later ages. Like Jews in Europe this race was considered by the Hindu empire to be a good victim for fleecing.