The Rashtrakutas and their Times c18.s2.8

c18.s2.8

Customary presents to the king and higher officers on occasions of festivity like the birth of a son, or marriage may also be mentioned here. The *utsaṅga* tax mentioned in the Arthas'āstra⁸⁰ has been interpreted in this sense by the commentator Bhaṭṭasvāmin. Such presents were made in the Indian States till recently and may have been common in our period as well, when some persons were so enthusiastically loyal as to offer their heads to deities in order that the king may have a male issue.(81)