The Rashtrakutas and their Times c18.s1.t1.10

c18.s1.t1.10

The remaining three readings signify more or less the same thing. The term *Bhūtopāttapratyāya* means a tax (*Aya*) on (*prati*) what has been taken in i. e. imported (*upātta*), and what has been produced (*bhūta*) in the village. The reading *Sambhṛtopāttapratyāya*, if not a mistake for *Sabhūtopātta-pratyāya*, would indicate a tax upon articles (manufactured and) stored (*sambhṛta*) and goods imported. *Bhūtavātapratyāya* is more enigmatical, but the expression *vāta* may refer to articles imported (*vā*, III conj., to wish to gain, to invite, to invoke) into the villages. It is, therefore, clear that these expressions refer to the general excise and octroi duties that were collected at the villages. This interpretation is further supported by the fact that the expression *Bhūtopāttapratyāya* does not figure along with the term *sas'ulka* in any of our records; Karda plates of Karkka II, dated 973 A.D., (53) Kauthem plates of Vikramāditya, dated 1008 A.D. (54) and Miraj plates of Jagadekamalla dated 1024 A.D. (55) describe the respective grants of the villages as *sas'ulka*, but they omit the expression *sabhūtopāttapratyāya*; the remaining records use the latter term but omit the former. It is thus clear that the *s'ulka* tax is nearly the same as the *bhūtopāttapratyāya* one.