Revenue System in Post-Maurya and Gupta Times

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About the Book This is arguably the first systematic study of the revenue system Post- Maurya and Gupta times. The author shows that some new principles of taxation were enunciated during the period under review. In earlier times the king was entitled to taxes in lieu of protection afforded to the people, but in the Gupta period royal ownership came to be considered as basis of taxation.

The volume discusses the earliest epigraphic evidence regarding fiscal concessions granted to priests and temples. While explaining various taxes mentioned in land charters, the volume shows that fines and forced labour constituted important sources of revenue. Throughout this study note has been taken of regional variations in the interpretation of fiscal terms. Adequate attention has also been paid to the nature of emergency taxation and the machinery of revenue administration. The present edition includes a Foreword and an Afterword by Vishwa Mohan Jha which throws new light on this classic work.

About the Author Dwijendra Narayan Jha (popularly known as D.N. Jha) was educated at the Presidency College, Calcutta and Patna University where he taught history for more than a decade. He was Professor of History, University of Delhi, until his retirement in 2005. He has authored several works including Ancient India; The Myth of the Holy Cow; Against the Grain and Rethinking Hindu Identity, etc. His edited works include Drink of Immortality: Essays on Distillation and Alcohol Use in Ancient India; The Feudal Orderand Contesting Symbols and Stereotypes. He has travelled widely, and has lectured at a number of educational institutions and universities in India and abroad including London, Kabul, Tokyo, Kyoto, Ham-burg, Heidelberg and Leiden. He has also held visiting assignments at Paris and Kiel.

Foreword

In a time of innovation all that is not new is pernicious.

I was delighted when the idea of reissuing Professor D.N. Jha's half-a-century old (1967) book, Revenue System in Post-Maurya and Gupta Times (Revenue System in short) was mentioned to me, and readily set upon the task of writing a foreword to it. I was delighted because the republication could become an occasion for sending out more than one important message, as it would allow me to revisit the historiographical context in which the volume first saw the light of day, as well as to reflect upon the contemporary conjunctures of historical thinking and practice in which it does so again.

The volume, any more than the even more ancient Contributions to the History of the Hindu Revenue System (1929) by U.N. Ghoshal (Contributions in short), has not dated, for it has not been superseded, for the simple reason that the subject has ceased to interest researchers for the past several decades. Its arguments and evidence continue as a result to hold the field, for all the vast potential of further and deeper research. As the issues have fallen into a wholly unmerited - unexplained at the very least - neglect and consequent desuetude, the phrase 'revenue system' itself has gone out of vogue. Titles matter, and well-wishers suggested a catchier, more market friendly one for this reissue. We had to demur. A major purpose of the reissue is to underline the undiminished relevance of the old theme. Revenue system - collection and distribution of social wealth - was arguably a leading organizing principle of ancient and early medieval economies of India; and, after all, Revenue System in Post-Maurya and Gupta Times is no Carracks, Caravans and Companies.

**Contents and Sample Pages**