The Rashtrakutas and their Times c18.s2.43

c18.s2.43

Forests were government properties in our period. A Pallava record(101) falling within our period mentions a grant of four pieces of forest land in the vicinity of Kanchi, showing thereby that the state used to claim ownership in the forest lands situated within its jurisdiction. Most of our records granting villages use the expression savṛkṣamālākuḷaḥ. It is very likely that the expression refers to the transfer of the state's right in the forest lands that may be situated within the boundaries of the village. It must be, however, admitted that another interpretation of this term is possible. Some of the Indian states of the Deccan still claim the right of ownership in certain trees like sandal, hirḍa etc. even when they may be growing on private soil. The same was the case with many of the states in the Punjab.(102) The records of the Gahadwar dynasty show that its rulers claimed proprietary rights in mango and Madhuka trees growing in the kingdom.(103) It is, therefore, not unlikely that the expression savṛkṣamālākuḷaḥ may be referring to the state's ownership of some such trees as well. There is, however, no evidence belonging to our period to prove that the Rāṣṭrakūṭas used to claim this right. The expression can be interpreted as referring to the state's ownership of the trees growing in the forests or by the roadsides, or on the village waste lands.