________________
MAT, 1906.)
CHANAKYA'S LAND AND BEVENUE POLICY.
118
(AJ) Special Taxos.
Noto.
It is an historical fact that ancient India was, unlike modern India, divided into a number of principalities, ander petty kings, who were at war with each other. The natural consequence of this state of things was that ancient kings were in constant need of men and money, not only to maintain the safety of their own states, but also to oonquer neighbours. They were, therefore, under the necessity of resorting to the levy of special taxes on their subjects. It appears that they were too full of guile to call such special impositions by the name of tax. They styled it prantuya or "begging."18
A king who finds himself in great financial trouble and needs money, shall collect money by begging. In such parts of his country as purely depend upon rain for water, and are rich in graiu, he shall beg of his subjects for one-third or one-fourth of their grain. He shall never beg of such of his subjecta as live in barren tracte of his country or are of great help in constructing various kinds of public works, such as, bridges, roads, forts, &c. Nor shall he beg of those who are of great help to him in planting, or maintaining timber, or elephant foreste. He shall, on the other hand, supply with grain and cattle those who clear out forest and build cities or villages. He shall also purchase what remains after deducting as much of the grain se is required for seeds and subsistence of his sabjects. He shall never touch anything of the property of forest tribes or of Brahmans. If these people have abundance of grain, the king may purchase the sarplas, paying, however, in return more than its worth in money.
2.
If the above measures prove impracticable, then such of the king's employés as the Collector-General and the Baperintendent of Agriculture shall do their best to grow summgr crope. They shall seize all those persons who are guilty in one way or another, and employ them in the work of such cultivation. During the time of the harvest of summer crops raised by privato people, they shall levy from private cultivators one-third or one-fourth of their grain. They shall also colleot from the people one-sixth of their foreet-produce and of such commodities as cotton, war, fabrics, wool, silk, medicines, drags, sandal, Aowers, fruits, vegetables. fireTood, bamboos, flesh, &c.
They shall also take one-half of all ivory and skins of animals, and punick with a fine ? 1.000 paņas those who without obtaining a license from tue Government trade in ivory or skine. So much for begging among cultivators.
Mote.
Balore going on to deal with the special tases levied by ancient kings un merchants, it is zoekery to understand the particular meaning that W& etiached to the word kere, uued by Ch a in convection with the taxes on merchants. In his lexicon called NAnalingan. bdsara. As'arisoha rogerda the worde bhaga, balk, and karo se synonymous in the gene el sense
20 (À proche demfuily applied by Zozporu kiaye of old also.- ED.)
