Indian Epigraphy c11.t2.19

c11.t2.19

The expression *tṛṇodaka* (literally, ‘[tax for] grass and water’) has here the technical sense of a cess due to the king even when the gift land was declared to be revenue-free.¹ There is also no doubt that the village, granted by the second of the two charters to several Brāhmaṇas, was subject to the payment of an annual cess at the rate of four *palas* of silver. Similar is the case with the Talcher plate² of the Śulkī king Kulastambha, which says that the gift village was made a rent-free holding, though elsewhere *tṛṇodaka* is stated to have been fixed for it at two *palas* of silver. Thus, although the village was made a revenue-free holding, a cess styled *tṛṇodaka* was levied at the annual rate of two *palas* of silver. Five *palas* of silver appear to be mentioned as the *tṛṇodaka* for the gift village in the Narasinghpur plate³ of Devānanda.