Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 127

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STUDIÈS IN THE BHAGAWATI SOTRA
(Ch. III
The state derived its revenue also from the receipts? of rich presents offered by individual subjects to the king and fines imposed on criminals found guilty by the judicial court (Dändigrāhya)".
In this connection one important matter should be observed that a rich merchant (satthavāha)* was always associated by the king with the administration probably as economic adviser to the government. It appears that his financial knowledge and experience were indispensible to the state for formulating the fiscal policy.
Fiscal administration as revealed in the Bhs is also referred to in other Jain texts in a systematic manner. There it is found that the structure of land-tax was based on the principle of some specified factors, such as, the amount of production, cost of cultivation, condition of market and nature of soil.
According to the Vyavahāra Bhasya the legal land-tax was generally fixed at the rate of one-sixth of the land produce on the basis of the above principle, while the commercial and industrial tax was imposed by the state, after taking into consideration the volume of trade carried on by the merchants, their living standard, incidental charges or intermediaries, labour, etc.
A house tax of two drammas is also referred to in the commentary on the Pinda-Niryukti', while the Niśitha Cīrni? mentions one case where it is found tbat a merchant pays one vessel out of twenty as tax to the state.
The study of some Jaina texts reveals that sometimes the king remitted commercial taxes in lieu of rich presents offered by the foreign merchants to him.
1 lb, 11, 11, 429. ? 16. 11, 11, 429. (See comm.) 3Ib. 7,9,300. 4 Gautama (X-24) mentions three different rates of land tax
viz. one-tenth, one-eighth and one-sixth. See also Manu
Smrti, VII, 130 ff. 5 V yuvahāra Bhāsya, 1, p. 128a. 8 Pinda Niryukli, 87. p. 329. ? Nisitha Cūrni, 20, p. 1281.