‘Bhaga’ tax in Harshavardhana’s administration was related to:

Concept

In early Indian fiscal vocabulary, revenue labels are classified by their tax base and mode of payment. A ruler’s share of agricultural produce is land revenue; cash levies and trade-related duties form different categories.

Application

Under Harshavardhana, bhaga was the state’s share of agricultural produce, commonly about one-sixth and paid in kind. It was therefore a land tax or land revenue.

Contrast

• A business tax concerns commercial activity or trade; Harsha-era accounts separately describe cash dues associated with cultivators and merchants as hiranya.

• Income tax uses a person’s income as the tax base, whereas bhaga was defined through agricultural produce.

• None of the above would apply only if bhaga did not belong to any listed category, but its agrarian tax base places it within land revenue.

Result

Thus, ‘bhaga’ was related to land tax.