According to standard accounts of ancient Indian land grants, which named…

Concept

To identify the earliest textual reference, distinguish a prescriptive literary statement from later legal elaborations and from epigraphic evidence.

The relevant text must explicitly connect a land grant with exemption from taxes, and its chronology must precede the other offered texts.

Application

1. Arthashastra 2.1.7 directs the ruler to grant brahmadeya land to eligible Brahmanas with hereditary rights and exemption from fines and taxes.

2. This is an explicit textual description of a tax-free land grant and is earlier than the later Smriti formulation offered among the choices.

3. Historical surveys therefore identify this passage as the earliest textual indication of a royal tax-exempt land grant, while the other choices describe gift ethics, a broad genre, or a later legal formulation.

Contrast

• Danadharma Parva discusses the religious merit and ethics of gifts, including land gifts, but does not supply the earliest explicit tax-free formulation among these choices.

• Dharmashastra is a broad legal-religious genre rather than one uniquely dated text, so it cannot serve as the specific earliest text here.

• Brihaspati Smriti contains later legal discussion of grants and taxation.

Therefore, the best-supported answer among the offered choices is Arthashastra.