Indian Antiquary Vol 34

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 53

MARC#, 1906.]
CHANAKYA'S LAND AND REVENUE POLICY.
47
CHANAKYA'S LAND AND REVENUE POLICY.
(4th Century B. O.) BY R. SHAMASASTRY, B.A. (Continued from p 10.)
EXTRAOT II.
REVENUE. (A) Sources of Revenue.
1. The Collector-General shall supervise the following sources of income in the kingdom - Forts, country parts, mines, gardens, forests, quadrupeds, and traffic.
2. The several sources of revenue in forts are as follows:- Tolls, fines, weights and monsures, jails, currency, passports, excise, slaughter-houses, oils, ghi, salt, goldsmiths, commerce, courtezans, gambling, house-building, artisans, gate dues, religious institutions, and special taxes levied on the people called Babarikas.
8. The several items of income from country parts are the following: -
(1) Produce from Crown lands (sfta). (2) Taxes received in the shape of grains (bhdga). (3) Taxes levied for religious purposes (bali). (4) Taxes received in the shape of coins (kara). (5) Taxes on boats, ferries, and ships (tara). (6) Taxes on traffic (vartani, sulka, vydji, &c.).
The several items of income from mines are the following: - Gold minos, silver mines, diamond mines, mines of rubies, &c., pearl fishery, ooral and conchs, metals such as iron, copper, &c., salts and other mineral compounds derivable from mountains and other sources.
The different varieties of garden's yielding revenue are the following:- Flower gardens, fruit gardens, and vegetable gardens.
The several sorts of forests are the following: - Forests of beasts and elephants, timber forests, and forests yielding various kinds of raw produce.
The various kinds of taxable quadrupeds are the following :- Cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats, asses, camels, horses, and mules.
8. The two kinds of taxable items in traffic are the following: - Commodities conveyed on land and commodities conveyed by water.
Note. It is clear from the above that the business of the Collector-General was very onerous, and that though the number of taxes was very numerous, taxes that were really of profit to the kingdom in those days were very few. Those taxes which were & source of considerable income are dealt with at length in the Arthasástra, the items of little or no income being passed over with a description in one or two sentences. We will next see how these several taxes were collected and what kinds of taxes were levied on the several kinds of taxable things.