The Rashtrakutas and their Times c22.259

c22.259

These wages are fairly liberal and much above the subsistence allowance. Since the food expenses per head for an ordinary meal were 20 Kalams, and for a good meal, 37 Kalams per annum, the accountant and the carpenter-master were getting much more than was necessary for maintaining a family of five, consisting of the husband and the wife, two children, and an old man. In the case of the carpenter the income was probably further increased to some extent by the earnings of his children, who must have acted as his assistants. In the case of the temple watchman and the drawer of water the family income must have been something above 100 and 60 Kalams respectively, as the women and children of the family must also be earning members to some extent. So they too were able to get much more than their subsistence necessities. The temple Brahmachārin had no family to maintain and he must have been quite well off with his 75 Kalams. The sub-accountant alone seems to be in a comparatively unsatisfactory position; his family members were probably unearning ones, and hence his 75 Kalams could just have maintained 3 adults and 2 children. But he was probably at the beginning of his career, and may have expected to be promoted to the position of the accountant in due course. While considering the family budgets of our period, we must further remember that each family was largely self-reliant as far as its clothing requirements were concerned. People, therefore, were comparatively better off than they are at present; for the grain equivalents of the present-day wages do not come up to the same figures. The same conclusion is supported if we consider the salaries after converting them into cash. The drawer of water was getting in our period 60 Kalams in rural areas; 60 Kalams are equal to 6 Kalanjus or 30 rupees. The prices in the present times are 7 times higher than they were in the 10th century, and, therefore, in order to be equally well off, the unskilled labourer in the village ought to get Rs. 210. He, however, hardly gets more than Rs. 150-180 at present.