Indian Epigraphy c16.s5.65

c16.s5.65

Certain medieval Orissan records like the Balijhari plates⁶ of the Somavaṁśī king Uddyotakesarin and the Kelga plates¹ of Kumāra Someśvara of the same dynasty mention a number of interesting taxes. The Kelga plates have *suvarṇadaṇḍa*, *ahidaṇḍa*, *vartmadaṇḍa*, *vandāpanā*, *vijaya-vandāpanā*, *tṛṇodaka*, *śāsanārdhika*, *varabalivarda*, *arthāruvā*, *pratyarthāruvā*, *padātijivya*, *ādattā*, *āturāvaḍḍi*, *gogauda* and *khaṇḍapālīya*, while the Balijhari plates have such new items as *hastidaṇḍa*, *coṭāla*, *bandhadaṇḍa*, *mārgaṇika*, *pratīhāra* and *uparikara*. Of these, *tṛṇodaka* has been discussed above and *khaṇḍapālīya* is the same as *khaṇḍapāla* already referred to. *Vartmadaṇḍa* of the Kelga plates is apparently the same as *mārgaṇika* of the Balijhari plates. It was a sort of customs dues payable at the outposts on roads. *Suvarṇadaṇḍa* was a tax payable by professional goldsmiths, while *ahi-daṇḍa* was the tax payable for the maintenance of snake-charmers. *Vandāpanā* was the same as Persian *nazrāna* payable at the time of visiting the king, while *vijaya-vandāpanā* was the *nazrāna* payable on the king’s return from a victorious campaign. *Śāsanārdhika* may be an additional share of the produce payable by the tenants engaged in cultivating rent-free lands. *Varabalivarda* was a tax for bullocks meant for prize-fights and *padātijivya*, called *pāikā* in Oḍiyā inscriptions,² was a tax for the maintenance of *Pāiks*. *Gogauda* literally means ‘cow and cowherd’ and appears to have been a grazing tax or a tax on the milkmen. *Hastidaṇḍa* was a tax payable for the possession of elephants, while *bandhadaṇḍa* may be the ransom payable in lieu of imprisonment, and *pratīhāra* a tax for entry into the royal palace or the maintenace of *Pratīhāris*. *Arthāruvā* and *pratyarthāruvā* appear to indicate collection from the money-lenders for the amounts loaned out and those realised with interest. *Āturāvaḍḍi* seems to mean ‘pellets for the sick’ and may have been a levy for the treatment of the king when sick. The expressions *coṭāla* and *ādattā* cannot be explained though the former may be the same as *ciṭolā* mentioned above and the latter may mean ‘interest or fine on the arrears of taxes’. Some inscriptions of the same area mention among the donees’ privileges: ‘together with fish, tortoises, etc.; together with bushes and jungles; together with the right to enjoy the property left by people dying without son’.¹ When the gift land was situated in a forest area, the privileges of the donees sometimes included his right to enjoy *hasti-danta* (ivory), *vyāghra-carman* (tiger’s skin) and various animals as well as trees including tamarind and palmyra.²