The Rashtrakutas and their Times c18.s1.48

c18.s1.48

These two valuable records give us the precise area of 35 different villages, stating in each case what area was actually taxed and what area was exempted from taxation. In the case of 5 villages the taxation was levied in cash and the rate works out to be 10 gold *kalanjus* per *veli* i. e. 2½ tolas of gold or about 37 tolas of silver for about 6½ acres. In the remaining 30 villages the tax was collected entirely in paddy, and the average is seen to be about 100 *kalams* per *veli*. Dr. S. K. Krishnaswami Aiyangar informs me that a *veli* in Tanjore district yields at present an average crop of 200 to 250 *kalams* of paddy (by the Tanjore measure) and that two crops on the average are grown in the course of the year, except in the narrow belt on both the sides of the Kaveri, where as many as three are possible. If we assume that the rainfall in our period was the same as it is now and that the present yield is not far different from that in the 10th century A.D., the government demand would be about 100 *kalams* from the gross produce of about 500 *kalams*; for in the villages given by Rājarāja only 2 crops are possible, and the modern *kalam* of Tanjore district is nearly the same as the *kalam* of our period. Land taxation at 20 per cent of the gross produce is fairly high, but it may be pointed out that about 15 per cent of this revenue was returned to the village for its own needs, ²⁵ and that there were no further demands as Water cess or Local Fund cess or Road cess. The records give the entire amount of the revenues paid by the villagers. All the revenues that were collected in our period remained in the country and no part was exported to any country outside India in the form of pensions or recruitment charges.