Indian Epigraphy c16.s5.35

c16.s5.35

In the passage referring to the imposts payable by the villagers to the donees, the Gāhaḍavāla charters read : *yathā-diyamāna-bhāga-bhoga-kara-pravaṇikara-kūṭaka-prabhṛti-samastādāya*,¹ in which the real nature of *pravaṇikara* and *kūṭaka* cannot be determined. In some records, *turuṣkadaṇḍa* and *kumāragadyāṇaka* are mentioned instead of *kūṭaka*² while other taxes like *hiraṇya*, *jalakara* (once wrongly read *jātakara*), *gokara*, *nidhi-nikṣepa*, *yamalikambali*, etc., are also occasionally introduced in the list³, the taxes being sometimes characterised as *niyatāniyata*, i.e. regular or fixed and occasional.⁴ Of these imposts, *turuṣka-daṇḍa* may have been a tax levied on the Muhammadans or for the maintenance of special forces for defending the subjects from Muhammadan attacks. This tax is comparable with those called *āndhra-daṇḍa* and *tiguḷa-daṇḍa* associated respectively with the Āndhra and Tiguḷa (Tamil) peoples and mentioned in the epigraphs of the Kannaḍa-speaking area.⁵ *Kumāra-gadyāṇa* was probably a tax of one coin called Gadyāṇa or Gadyāṇaka payable in honour of a newly born prince, while jalakara, literally ‘water-tax’, was paid for fishing rights, etc., in tanks, lakes, rivers, etc. The Gokara, literally ‘cow-tax’, may have been a grazing levy. Nidhinikṣepa refers to the hidden treasure in the ground or deposits or finds on the soil occasionally discovered. Yamalikambali is really yamala-kambalin payable for the possession of race bullocks.