Indian Epigraphy c16.s5.74

c16.s5.74

The Hitnahebbagilu plates⁵ of Kadamba Mṛgeśvarman (c. 470-90 A.D.) mention a number of privileges to be enjoyed by the donee, the most interesting of them being the exemption from *paṅga* and *utkoṭa*. *Paṅga* or *pāṅga* is also mentioned in other records of the Kannaḍa-speaking area such as the Kapoli plates¹ of Aśaṅkitavarman (6th century A.D.), the Goa plates² of Satyaśraya Dhruvarāja Indravarman, a grant³ (1107 A.D.) of Kadamba Tribhuvanamalla and the Panjim plates⁴ of Jayakeśin I. The word *paṅga*=*pāṅga* found in the said inscriptions is no doubt the same as Telugu *paṅgamu* recognised in Brown's *Telugu-English Dictionary* in the sense of ‘a tax in the shape of one-fourth of the produce collected in olden times by the government on lands in the possession of gods and Brāhmaṇas’. But expressions like *sarva-paṅga-parihṛta*, ‘exempt from all the *paṅgas*’, suggests that sometimes the word was used to indicate a tax in general. And this is supported by the use of the word *paṅga* (rarely *paṅgā*) in a large number of medieval Telugu inscriptions⁵ sometimes in the sense of a group of levies. In these records, we have, besides *paṅga-tappu* and *paṅga-śulka* or *paṅga-tappu-śulka* in a single compound, the word used along with other levies called *āya-śulka*, *pannu*, *kāṇika*, *darśana*, *upakṣiti*, *puṭṭi* and *māḍalu*. Both *āya* and *śulka* mean ‘tolls, tax, customs’, etc., and the compound *āya-śulka* may mean ‘customs duties’. Wilson's *Glossary* recognises *pannu* as a Tamil word meaning ‘tax, tribute, custom, rent’ and it is also recognised by Brown as a Telugu word meaning ‘a tax’. *Kāṇika* may be Kannaḍa *kāṇike-kāṇe* or *kāṇike-kappa* (or *kappa-kāṇike*) recognised by Wilson in the sense of ‘a present from an inferior to a superior, a subscription, a donation’. Brown recognises Telugu *kāṇika* or *kānuka* in the same sense. *Darśana* is the Tamil *pāvai* and Persian *nazrāna*. *Puṭṭi* reminds us of Telugu *puṭṭidosillu* recognised by Wilson in the sense of ‘a fee of two handfuls from each *puṭṭi* of grain paid to the village servants’. *Māḍalu* reminds us what Wilson says under māḍa : ‘a half pagoda; where it is applied to a rate of rent, payment of 50 per cent’. The expression paṅgatappu may indicate interest or fine on arrears of paṅga. Upakṣiti probably means the tax on a particular kind land such as khajjana.