Mauryan Economy and State Control

At a Glance

• Land tax One-fourth to one-sixth of produce
• Control 27 adhyakshas
• Monopolies Mining, liquor, arms
• Currency Punch-marked silver pana
• Labour Slaves, hired workers, shudras
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Mauryan Empire

Where Does It Fit?

This is the fourth topic of the category on the Mauryan Empire. The previous topic covered administration, and this one covers the economy that paid for it. The next topic covers Bindusara and Ashoka’s early life. Previous topic: Mauryan Administration (Arthashastra and Megasthenes’ Indica).

How Did the State Raise Revenue?

In short: a land tax, tolls and state monopolies financed a huge army and bureaucracy.

If we rely on the Arthashastra, the state controlled almost all economic activities. It brought new land under cultivation with cultivators and shudra labourers, and virgin land yielded handsome income as revenue from newly settled peasants. Taxes on peasants varied from one-fourth to one-sixth of the produce. Those who received irrigation from the state paid for it, and in emergencies peasants were compelled to raise more crops. Tolls were levied on goods brought to town and collected at the gate. The state also held a monopoly of mining, the sale of liquor and the manufacture of arms. Another account adds that the king was entitled to one-sixth in theory but often took about one-fourth, and that lands owned by the king, forests, mines, salt and coinage profits were sources of revenue. The Arthashastra lists many taxes on peasants, artisans and traders, and if they were all collected very little would have been left to the people. Rural storehouses show that taxes were also collected in kind, and these granaries were probably meant to help in famine as well.

How Did the State Control and Expand Production?

The state appointed twenty-seven superintendents (adhyakshas), mainly to regulate economic activities such as agriculture, trade and commerce, weights and measures, crafts such as weaving and spinning, and mining. It provided irrigation and regulated water supply, and Megasthenes says officials measured land as in Egypt and inspected the channels. A striking development was the use of slaves in agriculture, according to the Arthashastra. Megasthenes says he noticed no slaves, but there were domestic slaves from Vedic times, and in the Mauryan period slaves were employed in agricultural work on a large scale. The state kept farms with numerous slaves and hired labourers. About 150,000 war captives brought from Kalinga may have been engaged in agriculture, but the number looks exaggerated. Ancient India was not a slave society, since the tasks that slaves performed in Greece and Rome were done by shudras, regarded as the collective property of the higher varnas.

The Mauryas also founded new settlements. Kautilya advised that new settlements be made with cultivators, apparently vaishyas, and shudra labourers drawn from overpopulated areas. New peasants received remission of tax and were supplied with cattle, seeds and money, to be recovered later. This policy opened large areas to cultivation where the iron ploughshare was unknown. The spread of this approach to Bengal, Kalinga, Andhra and Karnataka is described in Mauryan Art and Architecture and in Spread of Civilisation in Eastern India.

How Active Were Crafts, Trade and Currency?

Crafts were predominantly urban and hereditary, with sons following fathers. Spinning and weaving of cotton were the most widespread occupations outside agriculture, and the Arthashastra names regions producing specialised textiles such as Kashi, Vanga, Kamarupa and Madurai. Metal working, woodwork and stone carving, including the polished Chunar stone used for Ashoka’s pillars, were important. Each craft had a head and an elder and was organised into a seni or guild, with disputes settled by a mahasetthi. Long-distance overland trade used caravans led by a maha-sarthavaha. Rivers of the Gangetic plains carried goods, roads connected the north with the south-east and south-west via Vidisha and Ujjain, and the north-west route linked the empire to central and western Asia. Sea trade reached Burma, the Malay Archipelago and Sri Lanka. Indigo, ivory, tortoiseshell, pearls and perfumes were exported to Egypt through Greek states.

The uniform coinage helped collect taxes and pay officers in cash, and it helped markets in a wider area. As an analytical point, the Mauryan economy combined heavy state intervention with a market economy, and the burden on peasants was the price of a huge army and bureaucracy, which is revisited in Pushyamitra Shunga Chief causes Reaction, finance, oppression, frontier…">Causes of the Decline of the Mauryan Empire. Earlier trade and coinage are in Second Urbanisation and Rural Economy in the Age of the Buddha and Indo-Greeks Gold Kushan dinars Deccan Satavahana lead and potin…">Money Economy and Coinage in Early India.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• State and economy Control model
• Terms Adhyaksha, pana
• Link To the empire’s fall

What Came Next?

The next topic describes Bindusara and the early life of Ashoka. Next topic: Bindusara and Early Life of Ashoka.

Key People and Terms

• Adhyaksha Superintendent of a department
• Pana Silver coin
• Seni Guild
• Mahasetthi Chief of merchants settling disputes
• Maha-sarthavaha Caravan leader
• Samaharta Collector-general

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about state control of the economy. These points add depth.

• Revenue Taxes and monopolies
• Control Superintendents
• Burden Peasant and fiscal pressure