Arthashastra — Adhyakshaprachara, Sutra 4

Devanagari script

पत्तनानुवृत्तं शुल्कभागं वणिजो दद्युः यात्रावेतनं राजनौभिः सम्पतन्तः ॥ कZ_०२.२८.०४ ॥

Transliteration

pattanānuvṛttaṃ śulkabhāgaṃ vaṇijo dadyuḥ yātrāvetanaṃ rājanaubhiḥ sampatantaḥ

Translation

ကုန်သည်တို့သည် သက်ဆိုင်ရာ ဆိပ်ကမ်းအလိုက် သတ်မှတ်ထားသော အကောက်ခွန်အပိုင်းကို ပေးရမည်။ ထို့ပြင် မင်းတော်၏ လှေများဖြင့် သွားလာသည့်အခါ သတ်မှတ်ထားသော ခရီးစရိတ်ကိုလည်း ပေးရမည်။

Word by Word

• पत्तनानुवृत्तम्: in accordance with the port (customs) regulations/practice
• Type: Adjective (compound)
• Root: पत्तन + अनु-वृत्
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे एकवचनम् प्रथमा/द्वितीया; विशेषणम् (शुल्कभागम् इति पदं विशेषयति)

• शुल्कभागम्: the duty share (customs due)
• Type: Noun (compound)
• Root: शुल्क + भाग
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे एकवचनम् द्वितीया; कर्मपदम् (दद्युः इत्यस्य)

• वणिजः: merchants
• Type: Noun
• Root: वणिज्
• Form: पुंलिङ्गे बहुवचनम् प्रथमा; कर्तृपदम् (दद्युः इत्यस्य)

• दद्युः: should pay / shall give
• Type: Verb
• Root: दा
• Form: लोट् (आज्ञार्थे) परस्मैपदम्, प्रथमपुरुषः, बहुवचनम्; विध्यर्थः

• यात्रावेतनम्: the transport fee (freight/wage for the voyage)
• Type: Noun (compound)
• Root: यात्रा + वेतन
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गे एकवचनम् द्वितीया; (दद्युः इत्यस्य) कर्मपदम्; शुल्कभागम् इत्यस्य सह समुच्चितम्

• राजनौभिः: by/with the king’s boats (state vessels)
• Type: Noun (compound)
• Root: राजन् + नौ
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्गे बहुवचनम् तृतीया; करण/सहायक-भावः (याभिः नौभिः)

• सम्पतन्तः: arriving (approaching)
• Type: Verb (participial)
• Root: सम् + पत्
• Form: वर्तमानकाले शतृ-प्रत्ययान्तः; पुंलिङ्गे बहुवचनम् प्रथमा; वणिजः इत्यस्य विशेषणम्; अर्थः ‘आगच्छन्तः/उपगच्छन्तः’

Entities Mentioned

• merchants
• ports (pattana)
• royal boats

More Details

FAQs

What does 'pattanānuvṛtta' indicate about policy?

Customs are standardized by port—suggesting locally calibrated tariff schedules rather than a single uniform rate.

Why charge separately for royal boat travel?

It monetizes state-provided logistics and discourages unnecessary use of royal transport capacity.