The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t28.4

c11.t28.4

But by far more important than these quasi-political commercial undertakings as sources of "sinews of war" or "roots of the army" were the industries owned and run or controlled by the government. Altogether three state-monopolies are mentioned in the Kautilyan schedule. The first monopoly was oil. The oil seeds were all brought to the government granary and pressed and made into oil by the state mills.⁴ The administration of tobacco monopoly in France since the time of Colbert (1674) furnishes a modern analogue. The next monopoly was salt, as we have mentioned above. In order to "protect" this government industry the Empire legislated that purchasers of foreign salts must have to pay compensation to cover the loss sustained by the state.⁵ Evidently foreign salt was not excluded altogether from the territory. There was, besides, the system of granting license by which private capitalists could manufacture and sell the commodity. In addition to the economic “profits” from the salt industry the government thus came to realize a large revenue from the customs, excise, and licenses.