Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/161

 treasure of old concealed in the ground, let him give one-half to Brāhmanas and place the other half in his treasury.

"The king obtains one-half of ancient hoards, and metals (found) in the ground by reason of his giving protection and because he is lord of the soil" (viii, 35-39).

Here also our means to find out how far this claim of the Brāhmanas was accepted are restricted to the dharma literature itself. The older writers, like Gautama and Vashistha, make the same statement. The later writer, Yajñavalkya, repeats the same rule, but Vishnu-smriti, another late work, gives long, elaborate rules regarding the distribution of treasure-trove among different varnas. Even though this writer differs considerably from the other writers in the number of details the principle underlying is essentially the same as in the rules found in our text.

There is very little in our text which advises a king to make distinction by castes in the matter of taxation. It advises that a king, even though dying with hunger, must not levy tax on a Shrotriya, and no Shrotriya, residing in his kingdom, should perish from hunger (vii, 133).

Further on it says: "Let the king make the common inhabitants of his realm who live by traffic, pay annually some trifle which is called tax. Mechanics and artisans, as well as Shūdras who subsist by manual