Verse 10.120

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

धान्येऽष्टमं विशां शुल्कं विंशं कार्षापणावरम् ।
कर्मोपकरणाः शूद्राः कारवः शिल्पिनस्तथा ॥ १२० ॥

dhānye'ṣṭamaṃ viśāṃ śulkaṃ viṃśaṃ kārṣāpaṇāvaram |
karmopakaraṇāḥ śūdrāḥ kāravaḥ śilpinastathā || 120 ||

From the people the tax on grains shall be one-eighth, and one-twentieth (on gold), with the minimum of one ‘Kārṣāpaṇa’; Śūdras, craftsmen and artisans discharge their dues by work.—(120)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Those dealing in grains should be made to pay one-eighth part of their profits.

The term ‘viṭ’ here stands for the people.

For those dealing in gold, the tax is one-twentieth part of their profits.

‘Śūdras discharge their dues by work.’—They should not be made to pay any taxes. So also craftsmen and artisans. With regard to them it has been laid down (in 7.138) that ‘they shall work for the king one day every month’; and the present text permits the taking of more work from them in abnormal times.—(120)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

“According to Medhātithi, the first line refers to the profits of subjects dealing in corn or in gold. From the former the king may take, in times of distress, one-eighth, and from the latter one-twentieth; the second line indicates that artisans who, according to verse 7.138, in ordinary times, furnish one piece of work in each month, may be made to work more for the king.—According to Govindarāja and Kullūka, husband-men shall give from the increments on grain one-eighth (instead of one-twelfth, and in the direst distress one-fourth, according to verse 118), from all increments on gold and so forth amounting to more than a Kārṣāpaṇa, one-twentieth, instead of one-fiftieth, as prescribed above, 7.130.—Nārāyaṇa says that the tax on grain is to be one-fourth in the case of Śūdras, and one-eighth in the case of Vaiśyas, that the tax on every thing else is to be at least one Kārṣāpaṇa ‘in twenty,’ and that artisans who work for wages shall pay the same rate.”—Buhler.

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 263), which adds that the verb ‘dadyuḥ’ is to be supplied.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

[See under 7.130, and 8.398 et seq.]

Vaśiṣṭha (12.37).—‘They quote a verse proclaimed by Manu referring to duties and taxes—“No duty is paid on a sum less than a Kārṣāpaṇa; there is no tax on livelihood gained by art; nor on an infant, nor on a messenger, nor on what has been received as alms, nor on the remnants of property left after robbery, nor on a Śrotriya, nor on an ascetic, nor on a sacrifice.”’