The King’s share: Taxation and governance in ancient India

IF 1.6 Q3 MANAGEMENT

IIMB Management Review Pub Date : 2026-09-01 Epub Date: 2026-09-08 DOI:10.1016/j.iimb.2026.100707

Padma Bharati A

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Governance, ethics, and economic sustainability were the deeply embedded principles in the well-structured, ancient Indian taxation system. Referencing texts such as the Manusmṛti and Arthaśāstra, this paper explores the forms of taxation, prescribed rates, and administrative frameworks that governed revenue collection. Ancient scholars emphasised that taxation should be moderate. The study highlights how taxation was a moral obligation—a means for the king to ensure protection and prosperity while maintaining state functions. By examining these historical perspectives, this paper sheds light on the enduring relevance of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) in shaping fair and effective fiscal policies.

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国王的份额：古印度的税收和治理

治理、道德和经济可持续性是结构良好的古印度税收制度中根深蒂固的原则。参考Manusmṛti和Arthaśāstra等文本，本文探讨了税收形式、规定税率和管理税收的行政框架。古代学者强调税收应该适度。这项研究强调了税收是一种道德义务，是国王在维持国家职能的同时确保保护和繁荣的一种手段。通过研究这些历史观点，本文揭示了印度知识系统（IKS）在制定公平有效的财政政策方面的持久相关性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

IIMB Management Review MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

5.90%

发文量

审稿时长

68 days

期刊介绍： IIMB Management Review (IMR) is a quarterly journal brought out by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Addressed to management practitioners, researchers and academics, IMR aims to engage rigorously with practices, concepts and ideas in the field of management, with an emphasis on providing managerial insights, in a reader friendly format. To this end IMR invites manuscripts that provide novel managerial insights in any of the core business functions. The manuscript should be rigorous, that is, the findings should be supported by either empirical data or a well-justified theoretical model, and well written. While these two requirements are necessary for acceptance, they do not guarantee acceptance. The sole criterion for publication is contribution to the extant management literature.Although all manuscripts are welcome, our special emphasis is on papers that focus on emerging economies throughout the world. Such papers may either improve our understanding of markets in such economies through novel analyses or build models by taking into account the special characteristics of such economies to provide guidance to managers.