Tackling Poverty – A Lesson from Ancient India – Blog Action Day Special

Sunday

The taxes that he [king Dilipa] collected were all given back to the people, just as the sun draws water from the earth only to give it back, a thousand times over.

प्रजानामॆव भूत्यर्थं स ताभ्यो बलिमग्रहीत् |
सहस्रगुणमुत्स्रष्टुम् आदत्ते हि रसं रविः ||

prajAnAmEva bhUthyarTHam sa thAbhyO balimagrahIth |
sahasraguNamuthsraSHtum AdhaththE hi rasam ravihi ||

[The verse is from Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsha. Dilipa ruled Bharatavarsha – approximately the area that is today India – around 5000 BCE or earlier. If only the governments of the nations of the world would emulate Dilipa, the earth can be free from poverty.]