medieval worlds • no. 6 • 2017 Religious Exemption in Pre-Modern Eurasia, C. 300-1300 CE
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 6 • 2017 Religious Exemption in Pre-Modern Eurasia, C. 300-1300 CE
ISSN 2412-3196 Online Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-8243-6 Online Edition
Ulrich Pagel
S. 101 - 117 doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no6_2017s101 Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Abstract: This paper examines a group of legal, religious and commercial privileges connected with revenue collection in ancient Indian society.1 These privileges, I argue, derive from and reflect the standing of Buddhist monks in that period. Much of the discussion that follows centers around the Saṅgha’s status in Indian tax law. It charts the factors that led Buddhist monks to call for tax immunity for the goods they carried on their travels across northern India. In this sense, the article is about money. But tax collection, although central to a state’s financial health, is not exclusively informed by fiscal considerations. Some of the Buddhists’ pleas for tax exemption sprang from privileges long held by their brahmanical peers. They clamoured for the very same rights that Indian political treatises (dharmaśāstra) extended to brahmins and Hindu ascetics. Taxation is also a tool deployed to manage social privilege and economic division in society and hence reflects the values its rulers seek to promote. As a result, this investigation explores the ranking of the Buddhist community within the wider arena of religious proliferation in ancient India. It contributes then to this special issue through its focus on tax exemption. Keywords: Buddhist Monasticism; Indian Buddhism; History of Buddhism; Economic History of Ancient India; Buddhism in Society; Buddhism and the State; Vinaya Studies Published Online: 2017/12/01 11:42:57 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5572 0x00372f21 Rights: .
MEDIEVAL WORLDS provides a new forum for interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Specifically it encourages and links comparative research between different regions and fields and promotes methodological innovation in transdisciplinary studies. Focusing on the Middle Ages (c. 400-1500 CE, but can be extended whenever thematically fruitful or appropriate), MEDIEVAL WORLDS takes a global approach to studying history in a comparative setting.
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |