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Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10: Chapter IV. The Revenue Administration

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10

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English

Contents

Chapter IV. The Revenue Administration

Section 1. Preliminary Remarks

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THE success which crowned the efforts of the Hindus in mediaeval times may be attributed, among other factors, partly to the unflinching support which the people gave them, and partly to the immense revenue which they could command. Behind the story of Vidyaranya and the shower of gold which he is said to have brought down for 3 1/2 ghalis (i.e. 1 1/2 hours), there lies the fact from the earliest stages of their political supremacy, the sons of Sangama had at their disposal resources as regards money which brought upon them the envy of the contemporaries. In this chapter we shall be concerned with the general mode of the fiscal administration of the Vijayanagara monarchs, which to a large extent enables us to appreciate their attempts to preserve what they thought to be the best in Hindu thought and culture. We shall, therefore, restrict ourselves to those facts that give us a comprehensive view of the method of their revenue administration, as recorded in inscriptions and in the writings of foreign travellers, leaving out of account the minuter details of land tenure and other allied subjects, which, because of a paucity of materials, may be treated in a later dissertation. And in this important matter of revenue, too, we may acquaint ourselves with the classical and mediaeval Hindu ideas which, while they governed the actions of the earlier monarchs of Vijayanagara in many matters, failed to leave a lasting impression, at least as regards one or two vital questions, on the minds of the later rulers whose influence showed signs of steady decline towards the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Since ancient constitutional usage played an important part in moulding the action and thought of the Vijayanagara kings and people, we shall not omit to mention, wherever possible, some facts connected with the revenue administration in the ages preceding the advent of the rulers of Vijayanagara.

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The fundamental principles of the Hindu lawgivers as regards the question of revenue may be summed up in the statement of the Mahābhārata that the State is maintained by finance.¹ This explains why Hindu canonists from Kauṭilya down to Śukrāchārya have laid emphasis on the fact of finance being the basis of all the activities of the State.² The importance of revenue is further seen in the relationship between the King and his people. But since we shall revert to this particular topic in the course of this chapter, we may say for the present that the lawgivers have been as careful in advocating the right of the King to levy taxes from his people as they have been discreet in vindicating the right of the people to receive protection from the hands of their rulers. We may note incidentally in this connection that the State, according to the Hindu concepton, when threatened with a great danger, may have recourse to the strictest measures of raising revenue. This is perhaps what is meant by Bhīshma when he says that a King whose friends have diminished, and foes have increased, should seize the wealth of all persons other than the ascetics and Brahmans. Such oppression of the subjects for the purpose of safe-guarding the interests of the State is no sin.¹

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¹ "From the treasury springs his (i.e., king's) religious merit, O son of Kunti, and it is in consequence of the treasury that the roots of his kingdom extended". Śānti Parva, CXXXIII, p. 425. (Roy's ed. 1890). Cf. I.H.Q., I, p. 696; Ghosal, Hindu Political Theories, p. 204 (1st. ed.); Dikshitar, Hindu Administrative Institutons, p. 213.

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² Arthāśāstra, Bk. II, Ch. VIII, 66, p. 71; Sukraniti, Ch. IV, ii, ll. 3-6, p. 138.

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¹ Śānti Parva, CXXX, p. 417; CXXXII, p. 423; Ghosal, Hind. Pol. Theor., p. 200.

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The inviolability of the Brahmans which is expressed here and elsewhere,² was, however, not so strictly adhered to by the Vijayanagara monarchs, who, as we shall see presently, while they allowed the Brahmans many privileges and granted them great gifts of land and money, subjected them to the ordinary financial rules of the State. For to these Hindu rulers the fundamental items of State consumption were the Army, the Rāshtra or the Land, and the preservation of the Hindu Dharma—the threefold items almost identical with those enumerated in the treatise of Sukra.³ Vijayanagara came into being, as we have already remarked, in the throes of the Muhammadan invasions, and it could only be maintained against foreign aggression by the strength of its arms. The Vijayanagara army, among other things, rested on the economic and social prosperity of the country. The preservation of Hindu Dharma, in its theoretical aspect of stimulating Hindu thought and literature, and in its practical shape of protecting the interests of the different classes of people, was impossible without the security which seemed naturally to follow in the wake of the Hindu soldiers, and without the immense wealth which the rulers could in most instances command in a country that was economically prosperous.

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² Gautama, VIII, 12-13, p. 216, Mādhava, Dāyabhāga, p. 33.

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³ Śukranīti, IV, ii, ll. 3-6, p. 138, op. cit.; Sarkar, Pol. Back., II, P. 1, p. 113.

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That the Vijayanagara monarchs had indeed before them the precepts of the ancient and mediaeval Hindu writers in the matter of State expenditure, is evident from the writings and actions of the greatest emperor of the land, Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya, who in his Amuktamālyada has defined expenditure in the following terms: "The expenditure of money which is utilised in buying elephants and horses, in feeding them, in maintaining soldiers, in the worship of gods and Brahmans and in one's own enjoyment can never be called an expenditure".⁴ We may compare this Vijayanagara conception of expenditure with that given by Kauṭilya. "The chanting of auspicious hymns during the worship of the gods and ancestors, and on the occasion of giving gifts, the harem, the kitchen, the establishment of messengers, the store-house, the armoury, the ware-house, the store-house of raw materials, manufactories. . . . free labourers, . . . , maintenance of infantry, cavalry, chariots, and elephants, herds of cows, the museum of beasts, deer, birds, and snakes, and storage of fire-wood and fodder constitute the body of expenditure. . .".¹ Krishna Dēva Rāya also seemed to have had in his mind the principles of Sukra, who mentions the army as the root of the prosperity of the *kōśa* and *rāṣṭra*,² and who maintains that the expenditure on the army is productive in every sense.³

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⁴ Amuktamālyada, Canto IV, v. 262; J.I.H., IV, P. iii. p. 73.

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¹ *Arthaśāstra*, Book. II, Ch. iv. 60, p. 64.

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² *Sukranīti*, IV, ii, ll. 28-9, p. 139.

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³ Ibid., IV, vii, ll. 7-16. pp. 216-7: Sarkar, *Pos. Back.*, II, P. i, p. 115.

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The same ruler has given us some more ideas of the division of State expenditure. "A king should divide his income into four parts, use one part for extensive benefactions and for enjoyment, two parts for the maintenance of a strong army, and one part to be added to the treasury".⁴ The idea of improving the economic resources of the country, which is implied in the statement that the king should spend one part for enjoyment and benefaction, leads us to the history of the economic activities of the monarchs, which, for reasons already stated, is outside our province. We may, however, note that the Hindu writers have not only recognized the importance of finance for the material prosperity of the State,⁵ but have allowed the rulers a certain amount of latitude as regards raising revenue from their subjects. Having observed the conformity of Vijayanagara theory as regards State expenditure to that enunciated by the ancient and mediaeval writers, we may now turn our attention to the interesting question of the sources of revenue as given by them and as found in the country in the ages immediately preceding the Vijayanagara times. Finally we shall enumerate in some detail the system of Vijayanagara finance.

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⁴ *Amuktamālyada*, Canto IV, v. 238, *J.I.H.*, IV, P. iii, p. 60.

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⁵ "Without wealth a king may (by penances and the like) acquire religious merit. Life, however, is much more important than religious merit". *Sānti Parva*, CXXX, pp. 146-7.

Section 2. Theory as Regards Sources of Revenue

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Manu has specified the rate of taxation and customs duties thus: "A fiftieth part of the (increments on) cattle and gold may be taken by the king, and the eighth, sixth, or twelfth part of the crops. He may also take the sixth part of trees, meat, honey, clarified butter, perfumes, (medical) herbs, substances used for flavouring food, flowers, roots, and fruits; of leaves, pot herbs, grass, (objects) made of cane, skins, of earthen vessels, and all (articles) made of stone".¹ "Let the king make the common inhabitants of his realm who live by traffic, pay annually some trifle which is called a tax. Mechanics and artisans, as well as Sūdras who subsist by manual labour, he may cause to work (for himself) one (day) in each month. Let him not cut up his own root (by levying no taxes) nor the root of other (men) by excessive greed; for by cutting up his own root (or theirs) he makes himself or them wretched".²

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¹ Manu, VII, 130-2, pp. 236-7.

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² Ibid., VII, 137-8, pp. 237-8.

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The Collector-General, according to Kauṭilya, shall "attend to (the collection of revenue from) forts. . . country parts. . . mines. . .buildings, and gardens. . . forests. . .herds of cattle. . .and roads of traffic. . .Tolls, fines, weights and measures, the town-clerk. . .the superintendent of coinage. . .the superintendent of seals and passports, liquor, slaughter of animals, threads, oils, ghee, sugar. . .the state goldsmith. . .the warehouse of merchandise, the prostitute, gambling, building sites. . . the corporation of artisans and handicraftsmen. . .the superintendent of gods, and taxes collected at the gates and from the people (known as) Bāhirikas come under the heads of forts. Produce from crown lands. . .portion of produce payable to the government. . .religious taxes. . . taxes paid in money. . .merchants, the superintendent of rivers, ferries, boats and ships, towns, pasture grounds, road-cess. . .ropes. . .and ropes to bind thieves. . .come under the head of country parts. Gold, silver, diamonds, gems, pearls, corals, conch shells, metals. . .salt and other minerals extracted from plains and mountain slopes come under the head of mines. Flower gardens, fruit gardens, vegetable gardens, wet fields and fields where crops are grown by sowing roots for seeds. . .come under sētu. Game forests, timber forests, and elephant forests are forests. Cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, asses, camels, horses, and mules come under the head of herds. Land and waterways are the roads of traffic. All these form the body of income. . .Capital. . .share. . .premia. . .parigha (?) fixed taxes. . . premia on coins. . . .and fixed fines. . are several forms of revenue . . ."¹

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¹ *Arthaśāstra*, Bk. II, Ch. VI, 60, pp. 63-4. The technical names, e.g., *durga*, *rāṣṭra*, *vraja*, are omitted in this quotation. B.A.S.

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In the *Sukranīti* the following nine sources of revenue are enumerated:

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(a) *Bhāga* or rent or tax on land;

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(b) *Sulka* or duties on commerce;

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(c) *Daṇḍa* or fines realized by the State through its penal authority;

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(d) *Akṛiṣṭapāchya* or what is received without cultivation or effort, e.g., nature's contribution;

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(e) *Araṇya* or forest produce;

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(f) *Ākara* or mineral wealth;

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(g) *Nidhi* or that which is deposited with the State bank by the citizens;

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(h) *Asvāmika* or unowned property which is escheat to State, and

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(i) *Takṣarāhita* or that which is gotten from thieves.²

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² *Sukranīti*, II, ll. 209-14, pp. 73-4; Sarkar, *Pos. Back.*, II, P. 1, p. 112.

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In another connection we have the following list of items that provide the State with revenue: *śulka* or duty, both customs and excise, land revenue, royalty on mining, grasses, timber and forest produce in general, animal husbandry or cattle rearing, working and compulsory labour, money lender or employer of loan capital, taxes on houses and dwellings, on the site for stalls used by the shopkeepers, and road cess to be paid for the preservation and repair of streets.³ "By these ten heads of income, the state is in a position to tap every resource of the people. No species of property is left untaxed. Land in every form, including forests, and mines, houses and stalls for residence or for business, labor, sales and purchase, as well as capital,—no conceivable source of the citizen's income is to get scot-free. To these we should probably have to add an eleventh item, viz., fines inflicted by the courts of Justice. . .In addition to the normal sources of income, we have some sort of an emergency collection in Sukra's thought. For war purposes, or for other extraordinary contingencies, we are told, the usual rates may be enhanced all along the line. Even holy places and properties consecrated to the gods, which are untouchable in peace times, may be conscripted under the war budget. . Possibly, in order to make assurance doubly sure, state-hoarding is regarded by philosophers' who, like German and Japanese statesmen, are obsessed by the notion of self-defence against foreign aggression, as a second string to the bow of sound war-finance".²

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³ *Sukranīti*, IV, ii, 212-58, pp. 147-9; Sarkar, *ibid.*, p. 116, seq.

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² Sarkar, Pos. Back., II, P. 1, p. 121.

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These principles of the Hindu lawgivers make it clear that the State is entitled not only to levy taxes from the people, on condition that it assures them protection, but is also permitted to strengthen its financial stability in times of need by having recourse to extraordinary courses of action. The multifarious items which, according to Kauṭilya and Śukrāchārya, are to be taxed, and the sanction which they have given for a monarch to encroach on the property of the Brahmans when beset with danger, may enable us to understand the system of taxation under Vijayanagara which left almost no article untaxed in the Empire.

Section 3. Taxation in Pre-Vijayanagara Times

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The latitude which is thus sanctioned by the lawgivers in matters of taxation was perhaps as much responsible in the shaping of the "financial policy" of Vijayanagara as the precedent set by the kings who ruled over the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands. Here it would be worth while to remember that the Vijayanagara monarchs were essentially heirs to the Hoysala traditions, although they judiciously followed, wherever they could, the custom which prevailed under the rule of the Tamil kings. Taxation in the Hoysala times, for example, rested on the main heads of land revenue, customs and excise duties, and taxes on articles and persons.³ All kinds of goods, even firewood and straw, were taxed, excepting glass rings, brass pots and soap balls.⁴ The traders paid mane-bāb; aṅgaḍi gullu was paid by the shop-keepers; the āyagāra and other officers accounted for one-third or one-eighth of the produce to the government; those who sold spirituous liquor paid kallali; the butchers were liable to the half-yearly tax called kasāyi-gutta; the washermen paid ubbe-gutta; those who smelted iron, homla-gutta, annually; the weavers and manufacturers of cotton cloth paid jakāyati; gānige-gutta was the name given to the tax on oil-makers; samayā-chāram, that on the headman of each caste; jāti-mānyam,¹ that paid by the Mādigas or chucklers; the salt-makers had to pay uppinamolla; the cowherds, hullu-banni for feeding their flocks in the public pastures; kāvali-gutta was the name given to the tax which the government got by letting out jungles; and those who were convicted of murder (?) (homicide?) and executors were liable to the jāyiri-gutta.²

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¹ Śukranīti, IV, ii, ll. 19-20, p. 138.

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³ Rice, My. Gaz., I, p. 476, (1st ed); p. 584 (Rev. ed.)

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⁴ Ibid., p. 477 (1st. ed.); I, p. 583, seq. (Rev. ed.).

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¹ Mānya seems to have been used in more than one sense. According to Fleet, mānya means "lands either altogether exempt from taxation or liable to only a trifling quit-rent". I.A., IV, p. 332, n. Mānya may be compared with śeṣe-mānya mentioned in A.D. 1190 together with ōvata-kāruṇya and fixed rent. E.C., V, P. I. Cn 179, p. 203. Among the Holeyas of Kanara, the leaders of the tribe or clan are jam-mānya or jam-mane. These Holeyas belong to the Pariar class which also includes in it the Mādigas. Cf. mānya with manneya. In a stone inscription dated in A.D. 1180 and A.D. 1186 we are informed that the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras Tailapa Dēva and Yegahrasa presented the manneya kirukula, āya, and dāya of Kiru Balligāve, for the services of the god Kēdarēśvara Dēva. Rice interprets manneya as Seigniorage. Mys. Ins., p. 77, n. Manneya is also the designation of an office. Under the Western Chālukya king Sōmēśvara Dēva in A.D. 1070, the thousand Brahmans of the great Kuppaṭūr agrahāra together with the local officials and the manneyar gave some lands for the local temple. The same inscription contains under the date A.D. 1180 the name of Boppa Dēvarasa, manneya of Sattalige-nād, E.C., VIII, Sb. 276, p. 47. In A.D. 1173 the Kalachuriya ruler Sōyi Dēva granted the manneya of the 12 chieftains to Kirukuḷa Nāyaka. E.C., VIII, Sb. 139, p. 19. In A.D. 1472 the Mahāprabhu Bhairappa Nāyaka is called "the sun to kill tigers, champion over the manneyas of the Iḍiga eight daṇḍige". E.C., VIII, Sa. 60, p. 103. In about A.D. 1178 Boppa Dēva is called the manneya of the Nāgarakhaṇḍa Kampaṇa. E.C., VII, Sb. 325, p. 56. See also, ibid, Sb. 327 and 328, p. 57.

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² Rice My. Gaz., 1, p. 479. (1st. ed.): 1, p. 582, seq. (Rev. ed.) These details, it may be noted, are taken from the Mack. MSS. My. Gaz., ibid., p. 578. (Rev. ed.). The gutta mentioned herein is not to be confounded with the dere or tegige (tax) which often figures in inscriptions. B.A.S.

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Since these general designations do not exhaust the entire list of articles taxed both in the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands, and since the precedent of the ancient rulers both in the south and in the west of the Vijayanagara Empire had a great deal to do with the fiscal arrangement of the mediaeval rulers, we may be permitted to enumerate in greater detail the names of some of the articles taxed by the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil kings. Some idea of the conditions under the latter may be obtained from an inscription of the times of Parakēsarivarman alias Adhirājēndra-dēva which mentions the following:—ūr-kalañju, kumāra-kachchanam,¹ the fishing rent, the rent of the goldsmith, and other minor taxes and rents, the cloth on the loom, velikkam, the tax on collecting rents (tandal),² the sonship(?) of the right-hand and the left-hand, and the other internal revenue which was being collected at the rate of twenty-five kāśu for them and kalam (of paddy). These were the taxes which were entered in the revenue register of the villages of Tiruvallam-Uḍaiyar.³ In the tenth century A.D. areca-land (kamugu) was also taxed.⁴ Some of the money-payments current in the Tamil land in the twelfth century were the following:

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¹ Cf. Kumāra-gaḍiāṇaka, Ep. Ind. IV, p. 99.

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² Cf. Taṇḍalil-akkai, S.I.I., II, p. 115, text, l. 10 seq.

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³ S.I.I., III, P. 1, p. 117.

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⁴ Ibid., P. III, p. 337.

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Kaḍamai, antarāyam, kāryavāratchi, vettipāḷḷam, pañjupili, sandhi-vigrahappēṟu, uluḍāṅkuḍi, arisittuṇḍam, danappēṟu, ponvari manairai, tarirai, sekk irai, taṭṭōlippāḷḷam, and others.⁵

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⁵ 507 of 1916; Ep. Report for 1917, p. 110, n.

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Judged by the number of taxes and imports, the Karṇāṭaka people must also have groaned under their burden. The contributions from the shop-keepers, merchants, daṇḍanāyakas, nobles and goldsmiths of several nāḍus in A.D. 1054, in Balagāmi were these:

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The shops of the nagaras ten visa each a year; the gold merchants ten visa each a year; the sthala gavaregaḷu one paṇa a year per sack; the gavare of other countries one hāga a year per sack; for camphor, musk, kumkuma, sandal, pearls, and all such articles sold by weight, two kāṇi per ponnu; cloth merchants of the place and foreign cloth merchants, two kāṇi per ponnu; for black pepper, cummin seed, mustard, sada flower, bishop's weed and coriander one visa per pon; for sugar, assafoetida, dry ginger, long pepper, cardamoms, green ginger, turmeric, and all fibres and roots sold by weight, one visa per pon.

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The worthies (manneya) of the Jiḍḍuḷige Seventy (i.e., the Chief, the Nāḍ Prabhus, the Gavuḍas, and the Prabhu Gavuḍas), gave five paṇa a year for each village.¹ The taxes in about A.D. 1077, in the reign of Vinayāditya II, were the following:

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¹ Rice, My. Ins., pp. 125-6. These duties and imports, it may be remembered, were assigned to the worship and procession of the god Gavarēśvara-dēva as a gift. B.A.S.

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House-tax, marriage-tax, ūr-uṭṭige, taude, surandu, kavarte, sēse, osage, manakare, kūṭa, kakandi, soldier's tax (bira-vāṇa), hammer-tax (koḍati-vāṇa), scissors tax (kattari-vāṇa), anvil tax (aḍekalu-vāṇa), haḍavaleya, hadiyarāya, potter's tax (kumbara-vṛtti), and blacksmith's tax (kamma-ra-vṛtti).²

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² My. Arch. Report for 1916, p. 52.

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We have some more names of the duties and imposts in Śaka 1058 and Śaka 1066 (A.D. 1163 and 1144 respectively). Areca-nuts, fifty on a load, twenty on a half-load, five on a hasara; betel leaves, one hundred on a load, fifty on a head-load, twenty-five on a hasara; clarified butter and oil, a sollage (= 1/4 of a kuḍava or balla) on each koḍa, half a maund on each siddige,³ one maund on each saṅgadi (=double of siddige?). On each cloth merchant's shop and goldsmith's shop, a paṇam on every gold piece. Cotton, five palas on each malave; two bisige on each malave of karuse (sold) from carts, ten palas on each half-load. On each house of laṅkas (carpenters?) there shall be every six months (a due of) stools, tripods, and maravi, one of each; every year there shall be (a due of) one bedstead. On goods sold by weight such as green ginger, turmeric, dry ginger, garlic, baje (acorus calamus) and bhadramuṣṭe (cyperus hexastachys) there shall be (a due of) five palas on each load, two palas on a half-load, one pala on a hasara; cummin, black pepper, and mustard, one maund on each load, a half-maund on each half-load, a sollage on each hasara; on salt and the other eighteen kinds of grain, one kolaga on each cart-load, two maunds on each load, one maund on each head-load; dry and fresh fruits, ten on each cart-load, four on each head-load; on each cart-load one daṇḍige, five myrabolans; on each pair of hūtes one daṇḍige, two myrabolans; on each basket of flowers one garland, for the potters, one pot on each shop.¹

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³ A siddige=a dry measure for 36 tōlas in Kumṭa, Honnāvūru, and Siddhāpur, and 28 tōlas in Bhaṭkal, and a fluid measure of 33 tōlas in Aṅkōḷa. Ep. Ind., XIX, p. 35, n. (2).

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¹ Barnett, Ep. Ind., XIX, pp. 35, 40. ² My. Arch. Report for 1914-15, p. 50. ³ E.C., IV, Hn. 137, p. 97, text, p. 272. ⁴ E.C., VII, Hl. 46, p. 168. ⁵ E.C., II, No. 333, p. 140. ⁶ My. Arch. Report for 1911-12, p.

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Under Viṣṇuvardhana Hoysala there was a tax on oil-mills.² Payment in gold, export dues, import dues, tax on oil mills, tax on potters, tax on washermen, tax on prostitutes, tax on carts, tax on masons, tax on basket-makers, tax on shepherds, tax on 500 ploughs of paṇṇāya, and tax on barbers (mane chinna, voḷavāru hoṛavāru gaṇadeṛe kumbāra-deṛe asaga (agasa ?)-deṛe toḷḷu-deṛe bhaṇḍi-deṛe oḍḍa-deṛe mēda-deṛe sāda-deṛe uduvalu-deṛe aynūru guliya paṇṇāya deṛe nāvida-deṛe) : these were the taxes in A.D. 1162.³

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In A.D. 1189 they had huḍuke-deṛe (partisanship tax ?), bīra-vaṇa, herjjuṅka koḍavisa, handara haṇa.⁴ We are told in about A.D. 1206 that "for house-tax at Gommaṭa-pura . . . . residents shall pay eight haṇas (once for all) as the capital on which one haṇa can be raised (as interest) and live in peace".⁵ We meet with two names aḷipu and anyāya in A.D. 1251.⁶ In A.D. 1296 they had khāṇa, abhyāgati, kaṭakasēse, basadi, and manakshata.⁷ It seems that there were some kinds of fines which were called tappu and tavudi in 1297.⁸ Hoḍike, hadike, haraṇe and mala-braya were the dues in A.D. 1300. They were called āya.⁹ Those who bought and sold horses in some villages in the Nigirili-Sōḷa-maṇḍalam, in the kingdom of the Hoysalas, in A.D. 1334, had to pay one paṇam for each animal.¹⁰ By A.D. 1334, therefore, the Hindus of the south had already violated one of the principles mentioned in the mediaeval Hindu treatise on polity, viz., that which prohibited traffic in wool and in animals with two rows of teeth (horses, mules, etc). Such traffic was supposed to be common only among peoples of western and north-western India.¹¹

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⁴⁴ Aḷipu may refer to waste or ruin, and anyāya to injustice. See infra. B.A.S. ⁷ E.C., II, No. 347, p. 150. ⁸ My. Arch. Report for 1920, p. 34. ⁹ E.C., III, P. 1, TN. 98, p. 87. ¹⁰ E.C., IX, Ht. 96, p. 99. ¹¹ Sarkar, Pos. Back., I, p. 263.

Section 4. Taxes in the Vijayanagara Empire

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The age in which the Vijayanagara monarchs lived needed a modification of some of the principles, especially those relating to revenue, laid down in the Hindu classical books, although it may be remembered that they were governed to a large extent by what they called "the ancient constitution usage". This "constitutional usage" was not only taken into account when people had to pay taxes to the State but also when the latter made remission to their subjects. Herein the Vijayanagara rulers were but following the Hoysala precedent. The Brahmans of Prasanna-sōmanāthapura, for example, in A.D. 1281, were permitted to receive 5,300 salage of rice produced at the time when the paddy fields were under cultivation. Then it was agreed that "according to the custom of the nāḍu whatever former dues (pūrbbāya) became payable for that Hādaravāgilu those priests will defray".¹ The Hoysala example of remitting taxes according to the former custom of the land is thus given in an inscription dated A.D. 1300 already cited above. "According to the custom of the country the palace will touch and remit to the Brahmans of Sōmanāthapura the former dues whatever they may be".² This ancient method of calling to the royal presence the dues from the people and remitting them subsequently had, perhaps, the effect of lessening the burden of taxation which otherwise would have been indeed too heavy for the people.

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¹ E.C., III., TN. 100, p. 87.

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² E.C., III, TN. 98, p. 87, op. cit.

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Some definiteness about the rate of taxation seems to have been common since the earliest times of Vijayanagara history. We are told, for example, that the persons who constituted the Toṭṭigan caste in Pulliyūr-nāḍu in about A.D. 1369 had to pay one paṇam for every village situated in the 18 nāḍus.³ In addition to this tax on caste mentioned above, we have numerous other taxes which can be gathered mostly from inscriptions. The tax on shoe-makers is mentioned in A.D. 1375.⁴ Camels were taxed in A.D. 1382.⁵ Two years later they had suṅka (customs), kāruka, hoḍake, hombali, magame, vaṭṭa, and kaṭṭige.¹ Some of the taxes granted in A.D. 1388 by Bhaṭṭa Bāchiyappa's son Bukkaṇṇa were the following—tax on the threshing floor, on houses, kiṛukuḷa, bēḍa, binugu, grāma-gadyāṇa, mēḍi-deṛe, daḷavaḷi, tax on carts, hādara, hombali, daṇṇayaka-svāmya, meṇapu nōṭa, mala-braya, the good ox, nalleṇḍige, kūlu, koṭṭige, sollage, and mallige.² In A.D. 1396 the artisan tax, the loom tax, sale of branded cattle, marriage tax, oil mill tax, the huḍike tax, the furnace tax, the sāvantike are mentioned.³ Mallana Oḍeyar in the next year issued an order (nirūpa) that the Seṭṭis, Kaikkōḷars, Vāṇigas, Oil-Vāṇigas included in the eighteen paṭṭaḍai (castes) in the village of Pāḍi-Tiruvallidāyam must make over the taxes payable by them, viz., paṭṭaḍai-āyam, paṭṭaḍai-nūlāyam, mādaviraṭṭi, sammādam, sekku, etc., for the benefit of the temple of their village.⁴ Bukka II in Saka 1326 (A.D. 1404-5) fixed the taxes payable by the Seṭṭis, Kaikkōḷars, and the Vāṇiyas living in the premises of the temple at Pulipparakōvil, at two paṇam a year on each individual, and two paṇam on each loom.⁵ From an inscription of about the same date (? A.D. 1402), we gather that they had the local dues, the sugar-cane mill tax, the goat tax, the egg dues, the baking tax and the cooking tax in the villages of Pura and Māramanaḥaḷḷi.⁶

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³ E.C., IX, Ht. 103 (a), p. 101.

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⁴ E.C., X, Ct. 94, p. 262.

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⁵ Rice, My. Ins., p. 270.

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¹ My. Arch. Report for 1916, p. 58.

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² Ibid., for 1920, p. 35. These taxes were granted to Kaṇpana Chavudappa and others on condition that an annual rental of 40 varāha was paid by by them.

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³ E.C., VII, Hl. 71, p. 173.

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⁴ 221 of 1910; Ep. Report for 1911, p. 83.

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⁵ 293 of 1910; Ep. Report for 1911, p. 83.

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⁶ E.C., IV, Kp. 21-2. p. 103.

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In the reign of Vijaya Bhūpati Rāya Oḍeyar, son of Dēva Rāya I, the sthānattars (i.e., managers of the temple) of Pulippagavarkōvil, Chingleput district, are stated to have granted, after consulting with the revenue authorities of Chandragiri-śālā, a remission of six paṇam which they used to take in excess from the Kaikkōḷars as vāsal paṇam but collected, as before, three paṇam from each family of Kachchavaḍa-vāniyar, three paṇam from each family of Sivanpadavar (Sembaḍavar), forty (paṇam) on cloths, and four towards kāttigai-kāṇikkai.⁷ Still another tax which the Pallis of Pāḍi had to pay to the temple of Tiruvallidāyam, Chingleput district, was the Iḍangaivari. The Iḍangai residents of the villages round Chandragiri together with the Vanniyars, who had perhaps a claim to collect this tax for their communal benefit, consented to a portion of the collection at Tiruvallidāyam being paid to the temple (in Plavaṅga, Śaka 1350=A.D. 1428-9) in the reign of Dēva Rāya II.¹ One of the Telugu Rāhuttars named Malla Rāhuttar, in Śaka 1362 (A.D. 1440-41), living in the Muḷvāyi-chāvaḍi country, assigned to the Muḍigoṇḍa Chōḷīśvara temple at Kaḍaikaṭṭūr (modern Koḍagattūr, Salem district), the taxes called nāḍu-tala-vārikkai (i.e., the police rate), Seṭṭiyar-magamai (i.e., voluntary fee paid by the Seṭṭis) collected on either side (ubhaya mārga) of the village, and an allāyamānyam and aḍikāśu on each shop opened in the markets at Varagūr.² An inscription of Virūpaṇṇa Oḍeyar, son of Harihara II, dated only in the cyclic year Rudhirōdgārin, informs us that the weavers of Vāyalūr alias Jananāthanallūr in Paṭṭiṇa-nāḍu, in Jayaṅgoṇḍa-chōḷamaṇḍalam, were taxed three paṇam on each loom.³ Besides, they had to set apart three looms which were perhaps to be exclusively used for the benefit of the temple.⁴ In about A.D. 1402 certain Seṭṭis and heads of the Vaiśya community agreed to pay to the ruler Vīra-Saiva Pratāpa Chōḷa Mahārāya, one haṇa per house per annum, and for marriage, two haṇa. This decision of theirs was applicable to the following places—Beṅgaḷūru, and all the hamlets within its boundaries, Hosakōṭe, Kōḷala, Tyākalu, Būdiguṭṭa, Kaṅggōdidurgga, Veṅkaṭagirikōṭe, Mēkanāyakanapālya, Māsti, Bāgalūru, Hōsūru, Anekallu, Denkaṇikōṭe, Ratnagiri, Kāvēripaṭṭaṇa, Aṅdūru, Peraṅdūru, Pennāgara, Sālya, Dharmapuri, Ajjipura, Kurubarabatti, Srīraṅgappaṭṭaṇa, and all the hamlets within its boundaries.⁵

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⁷ 294 of 1910; Ep. Report for 1911, p. 83.

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¹ 215 of 1910; Ep. Report for 1911, pp. 83-4.

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² 196 of 1910; Ep. Report for 1911, p. 84.

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³ 364 of 1908.

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⁴ Ep. Report, for 1909, p. 115.

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⁵ E.C., IX, Bn. 96, p. 19, text, p. 35.

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A great number of taxes is mentioned in an inscription dated Śaka 1349 (A.D. 1437-8) of the times of Dēva Rāya. They are the following: taxes on the nañsey (wet land), puñsey (dry land), vāsal, maṇai-ppēru-kaḍamai, taṛi-kaḍamai, māvaḍai, maravaḍai, kuḷavaḍai, kalāyam, tirigai-āyam, pēr-kaḍamai, (taṛi-kaḍamai), ālukkunīr-pāḷḷam, magamai.

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kaḷḷigai-avasaram, paḷai-kāṇikkai. Aḍikārttigai-pachchai, and all old and new taxes. "Several of these have remained unexplained till now. It is easy to understand the nature of the first four: they are levied on wet and dry cultivation, on inferior crops, on houses and compounds, and on looms; māvaḍai, maravaḍai, and kuḷavaḍai are taxes on animals, trees, and tanks; that is, perhaps, when animals are sold in markets, on fruit-bearing trees and for fishing in tanks. Kalāyam literally means tax on stone; it is very likely a tax payable for quarrying stones from hills; what tax is meant by tirigai-āyam is not known. Peṟ-kaḍamai means tax on persons, a sort of poll-tax evidently. Aḷukku-nīr-pāṭṭam is a tax for maintaining the person appointed for making regular supply of water to the fields; this appears to be the same as nīrānikkam. Magamai is a corrupt form of maganmai, the nature of being a son to another; this levy is still in force among certain merchants in the Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts. On all sales and purchases the merchants collect a small, but fixed, sum and utilise the money thus collected for some public purpose. . . . Kaḷḷigai-avasaram appears to be some sort of tax on firewood; and paḷai (paḍai)-kāṇikkai is the contribution to be made for the maintenance of the army. Pachchai means a kāṇikkai, a nazar, a present on important occasions. . . . Such kāṇikkais seem to be given in the month of Āḍi and Kārttigai".¹

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¹ Ep. Ind., XVII, p. 112.

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Some more names are given in an inscription of Saka 1356 (A.D. 1434-5) in addition to those mentioned above. Kamaku (areca-grove), kaṇṇu vaippu (margosa), tenna maram (cocoanut tree), koḷundu, vāḷai (plantain trees), karambu (sugar-cane), mañjal (turmeric), iñji (ginger) śeṅ-kaḷunīr (flower) and other vān-payir (minor cultivation), vāśal-vari, peṟ-kaḍamai, tari-kkaḍamai (tax on looms), mara-kaḍamai (tax on trees), śekku-kaḍamai (tax on oil-mills), iḍaitorai, pulavari, maṇḍai-kaṇḍerram, oḷugu-nīr-pāṭṭam, uḷāyam, vil-paṇam, maghamai, mallāyi-maghamai, inavari, nāṭṭu-kāṇikkai, kaḍḍāyam, kirakula- viśēsham, araśu-pēṟu, nallerudu (good bull), nal-kiḍā (good sheep), nal-paśu, (good cow), palaḷaḷi, araśikānam, talaiyārikkam, mādarikai, rāyasa-varttanai, avasaravarttanai, koḷḷigevartanai, karaṇike, jōḍi, nirāṇivarai (water-tax), nāṭṭukaṇakkuvarai, akkasālevari, ālamañji, and ūligam (service).¹

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¹ Ep. Ind., XVIII, p. 139. ² E.C., VII, Sh. 71, p. 28, text, p. 74. ³ Ep. Report for 1916, p. 140. ⁴ Butterworth-Chetty, Nellore Ins., III, pp. 1121-22. ⁵ 244 of 1912. ⁶ E.C., V, P. 1, Cn. 259, p. 234, P. 11, p. 699.

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There seems to have been the custom of levying what were called nāḍ duties or imposts in a district. In A.D. 1431 the nāḍ duties were the following:—

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Tax on artisans, village-gadyāṇa, the five kinds of workmen, tax on oil-mills, tax on tortoises (?), stamp on looms, inward and outward dues, tax on marriages, together with the customs dues, food for watchman, loading of sweepings and Gauḍa's claim.²

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Then again we have in the same reign nāṭṭukkāṇikkai, nāṭṭu-viniyōgam, paṭṭirai, pāḍagavari, paḷavari, puduvari, puḷugupāḍu, poṛpāḍu, kaśupadu, pudavaippaḍu, nelpāḍu, mulaikkūli on the tenants, their cows, horses and goats.³

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In A.D. 1433-4 under orders from the Dalavāyi Dēvarajaya Vaḍayulavāru, Manūri Dēvala granted the following taxes for the merit of Dēva Rāya Mahāraya, for the divine service of the god Narasimha-dēva: tax on marriage, on carts, slaves, horses, bullocks, cows, buffaloes, and other live stock, on all kinds of grains, oil, women's clothes and other beautiful articles, on temples, watcher's fees (?sunka-kama-taḷāri-kaṭṭam) and palace tax.⁴

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Sekkāyam and magamai are again mentioned under Sāluva Narasinga Dēva in a record dated only in the cyclic year Chitrabhānu.⁵

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About A.D. 1495 herjjunka, (dues on) terraced land (nela-meḷḷu-sthaḷa-suṅka), local dues, tolls, marriage tax, loom tax, goat tax(?), and other taxes, besides the plough tax, licence for export, advance tribute, tribute in person and "all other rights and dues whatever they may be" are mentioned.⁶

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Even salt pans were taxed as appears from the grant of dues by Chikka Rāya to a learned Brahmana called Raṅganātha Bhaṭṭa, in A.D. 1505. The dues included fines, tribute, alms gold, hombaḷi, corn, grain, tax on Jaṅgamas, on marriage, fees on betel leaves, tax on Mādigas, fees on salt-pans, tax on Jiyars, customs dues, and all other taxes and burdens (suṅka-modalāda samasta terige horage ellavanu kuḷava-kaḍidubiṭṭu).¹

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¹ E.C., IV, Gu. 67, p. 47, text, p. 118.

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Taxes were imposed on maṭhas and on gold. This is evident form the grant made by Chikka Rāya of Ummattūr, in the reign of Sāḷuva Narasimha, to Alikoṇḍa Nāga Bhatta of the village of Moṇamuṭṭahaḷḷi in A.D. 1506. The gift included customs, inland duties, export duties, the goat tax, the potter's tax, glass tax, caste tax, the samaya tax, the duty on sugar cane mills, the duty on large baskets of eggs, other fixed duties, with all the changeable dues, the tax on horse-grams, Bengal gram, offerings, fines, the tax on maṭhas, and all other customs dues, with the duty on gold.²

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² E.C., III, Ml. 95, p. 66, text, p. 197.

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There were taxes on mendicants and fees for grazing cattle on the hills. Thus we are told in A.D. 1522—the fees for grazing cattle on the hills, the tax on braziers, the tax on Jaṅgamas, the tax on artificers, the tax on mendicants, the tax on smiths (?), the tax on washermen, the tax on barbers, the tax on potters, the tax on oil-mills, the customs (?) on Kumba's grazing land(?), the customs on looms, the tax on Mādigas (?), the toils of Saliyūr (?), and all other taxes.³

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³ E.C., IV, Gu. 1, p. 35, text, p. 87.

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The tax on salt-pans was sometimes granted along with a village. Thus a hamlet separated from Araiyaṅsēri in Seṅgaḷunīrpaṭṭu together with the proceeds on ten salt-pans was given for worship and repair to the temple of Seṅgaṇmālīsuram-uḍaiya-Nāyinār at Rājakēsarinallūr alias Taiyūr, Chingleput district, in Saka 1442 (A.D. 1520-1), by Sellappar Vīra Narsimha Rāya, in the reign of Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya.⁴

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⁴ 225 of 1916.

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The taxes in grain and kind current in the reign of that monarch can be made out from an inscription from Dēvakāpuram, North Arcot district, which registers the right of cultivation in general to certain Kaṇṇadiya (i.e., Kanarese) Nāyakas who had settled down at a place called Marudarasar-Paḍaiviḍu. Such rights of cultivation, which have been noticed elsewhere in this treatise, were usually granted by the treasurer of the temple. In this particular instance it was granted by the treasurer who was one of the presiding priests of the Bhikshāvṛitti-maṭha at Dēvakkāpuram, the trustees (tāṇattār), the māhēśvaras, and the Kaikkōḷa-mudaliyārs, attached to the temple, and consisted of a permanent lease of an uncultivated waste land which the lessee was authorized to reclaim and to settle, to grow crops that suited him, wet and dry, including plantain, sugar-cane, turmeric, ginger, areca and cocoanut; and after doing this, to pay the taxes in gold and in grain, such as vāśal-kaḍamai, peṟkaḍamai, taṟi-kkaḍamai, sekkōṭṭu, eruttu-sammādam, mādārikkam, talaiyārikkam, aśuvakkaḍamai, paṭṭaḍai-mūlāyam, iḍaillurai, veḷḷivari, palavari, puduvari (that may be enforced by the palace), nallerudu (good bull), naṟpaśu (good cow), nallerumai (good buffalo), naṟkiḍā (good ewe), kōṇigai, virimuṭṭu, eḍakkaṭṭāyam, viruṭṭuppāḍu, uḍugarai, and mugampārvai. To this list, the other inscriptions add palatali, kāṇikai, śandai, ēriminvilai, malai-amañji, madil-amañji, eḍuṭṭalavu, viruṭṭumāḍu, śāttu-kaḍamai, and virarai.¹

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¹ 352 of 1912; Ep. Report for 1913, p. 122.

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The mūle-visa tax is mentioned in about A.D. 1525 when under Sadāśiva Rāya in right-hand man (dakshiṇa-bhuja-daṇḍanāda) Kṛishṇappa Nāyaka was ruling over Dummināḍu. For the offerings of the god Virabhadra of Dummi, Keñcha Viraṇṇoḍeyar of the Nirāśraya-maṭha of Dummi, granted one half of the mūle-visa (i.e., an allowance of 1/16th) which the Gauḍas Paṭṭaṇa-svami, and subjects of Dummi had permitted him to levy.²

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² E.C., XI, Hk. 15, p. 118.

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We gather that there was a tax called sōmaśūlavari, in Saka 1452 (A.D. 1530-1), from the fact that the lands of the temple of Jambunātha of Jambai were exempted from it on the representation of Vaiyappa Nāyaka Aiyyan, during the rule of Vēlūru Bommu Nāyaka.³ Under Achyuta Rāya there was a tax called durga-daṇāyani-vartana. This is made out from the remission of 235 varāhas in Saka 1452 (A.D. 1530) by Rāyasam Ayyaparusugāru, son of Rāyasam Koṇḍamarusayya, from seven villages belonging to the Bhairavēśvara temple at Mompūru, when he was in charge of the fortress of Ghaṇḍikōṭa.⁴ Carpenters in A.D. 1544 had to pay a tax.⁵ Jōḍi and bēḍige are mentioned in A.D. 1545 as having been current in the various parts of Male-nāḍu.¹ The Tammalas and others of Muḍiyyam gave as a gift in Śaka 1473 (A.D. 1551-2) the tax called vira-musṭi-pannu to the Sōmēśvara temple of Raṇāṭasīman, in Ghaṇḍikōṭa-rājya.² It seems that there was no tax on shepherds in certain parts of the Vijayanagara Empire. Thus a śāsana granted by Kṛṣṇappa Nāyaka's Agent Dammappa Nāyaka to the Bili Kurubaru in A.D. 1554 affirms: "In our Biliehēḍ country, for the kurubaru (shepherds) in the Benasāyar villages there is no sheep tax".³ Some of the items which came under taxes and dues in A.D. 1563, under Sadāśiva Rāya, were the following: tribute, quit rent, alms, watchman's dues, loss, injustice, miscellaneous tolls for the council and account, remission and such other imposts.⁴ The dues mentioned in A.D. 1565-6 were the aḍḍagaḍa-suṅkam (the tax levied on the sellers of sheep and similar things?), kaḷnālu, (presents?), suṅkam from the bharilas (residents?) of the sthala, and the mūle-viśālbaḍi (i.e., the original tax levied proportionately upon the profits of traders).⁵

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³ 127 of 1906.

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⁴ 499 of 1906; A.S.R. for 1908-9, p. 191, n. (9).

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⁵ E.C., X, Bg. 30, p. 235.

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¹ E.C., IX, Nl. 81, p. 48.

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² 349 of 1905.

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³ E.C., XI, Jl. 2, p. 84.

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⁴ E.C., V, P. I, Hn. 2, p. 2; text, P. II, p. 2.

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⁵ Butterworth-Chetty, Nellore Ins., II, p. 947, n. (1); III, p. 1498.

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Under Rāma Rāya Viṭṭhala Rāya these were some of the items of revenue: mēlvāram, upādhi, viniyōgam, with the dues to the king (கோமுறை பாடயம்) viz., tirvaikkāṇam, lakkābōgam, including the fee for the maintenance of the hill forts of Jayaṭuṅga-nāḍu, and Siṟaivāy, tirigaikaḍamai, taṟikkaḍamai (tax on looms), uttaipāḷḷam, pāsivilai (fishery), and taxes on the Iḍaṅgai and Valaṅgai classes. Chennadēva Chōḷa-mahā-arasu made for the merit of Rāma Rājayya a grant of the taxes bēḍige and birāḍa of Kikkēri to the mahājanas of various gōtras, śakhās, and sūtras.⁶ This latter tax together with jōdi is also mentioned in Śaka 1505 (A.D. 1583-4) in the days of Śrīraṅga Rāya Dēva.⁷ The five classes of artificers include in the Pañchālas of Būdhiāḷ-sime had to pay till A.D. 1573 a tax on avail or bench called aḍe-vaṇ which in that year was cancelled by the governor Śrīpati Rāja Vallabha Rājayya Dēva Mahā-arasu.⁸ Taxes were levied on looms, eggs, the 2nd day of an extra month, and on oil-mills in about A.D. 1581.¹ The names of the taxes nagari-birāḍa, asavechālu, and birudulu are also included in an inscription of the same year.² The taxes in Dēvapura (in Suguṭūr?) in about the same year were the following: crugaṇike, kāṇike, bēḍige, biṭaḍa, ulupe, and vartane.³ In Śaka 1525 (A.D. 1603-4), weavers had to pay tax to the Tintriṇīśvara temple in the Tindivanam tāluk, South Arcot district.⁴ The washermen who resided in the fifty-six countries of Belūr-sīme were required to pay, in A.D. 1650, a tax at the rate of one varāha for a girl or a woman, four varāha for a widow.⁵ An inscription dated only in the cyclic year Dhātu but falling in the Śaka year 1558 (A.D. 1636-7) records the remission of the cannon tax (birangi-vāri) to a private individual belonging to the Añujāḍi Pañchāḷattār of Kuḷiyētta-sīrmai by Akkappa Nāyaka, the daḷavāyi of Anegundi Veṅkaṭapati Rāya.⁶

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⁶ Ep. Report for 1917, p. 131.

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⁷ My. Arch. Report for 1914-15, p. 61.

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⁸ 266 of 1916.

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⁹ E.C., XII, Ck. 8, p. 71.

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¹ E.C., IV, Hg. 91, p. 78.

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² 178 of 1913; Rangachari, Top. List., I, Ap. 143, p. 23.

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³ E.C., IX, Ht. 4, p. 88, text, p. 195.

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⁴ 31 of 1905; Rangachari, Top. List., I, SA. 467, p. 185.

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⁵ Rice, My. Ins., p. 221.

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⁶ 129 of 1921; Ep. Report for 1921, p. 107.

Section 5. Land Revenue Settlement

A. Theory and Practice in Pre-Vijayanagara Days

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The outstanding item in the fiscal administration of Vijayanagara which brought in the greatest amount of revenue was, it may be presumed, that concerning land. We may note a few general observations on this important question of land revenue, especially as it was understood by the earlier monarchs, before we dwell at some length on the fiscal arrangement of the Vijayanagara times. Land revenue questions have been minutely dealt with by the Hindu writers on polity.⁷ The careful attention which, for instance, the authors of the Sukranīti have bestowed on it shows that it was a matter of deep concern to the rulers and statesmen of mediaeval times. In the system of Sukra it seems to have been thoroughly centralized. He suggests two modes of realizing revenue—it may be farmed out to one rich man in the village, who is to advance the entire sum in periodical instalments to the government, or revenue collectors may be appointed by the State, who are to be officers of the central government for the purpose of realizing the dues from the cultivators. They are to receive salary at certain specified rates which we shall enumerate in detail in a later connection. Each cultivator is to have for himself a deed of rent or tax bearing the government seal.¹ Some of these general principles mentioned in Sukra's Nitisāra governed the action of the Vijayanagara monarchs who, as will be seen presently, over and above appointing officers to collect revenue, leased out estates according to what was called the guttige (or gutta) system. We are not certain whether the salary of the revenue officials under Vijayanagara was according to the injunctions of Sukra. Neither are we in a position to determine with certainty whether the bifurcation of the revenue administration advocated by Sukra into the departments under two ministers called amātya and sumantra², was followed by the Hindu monarchs of Vijayanagara, although there are reasons to assume that the officials who were entrusted with the responsibilities of revenue administration under them have exercised the powers which in the Sukranīti are attributed to the Finance Minister (or sumantra) and the Minister of Realization (or amātya).³

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⁷ Sarkar, Pos. Back. II. P. I., pp. 112-3.

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¹ Sukranīti, IV, ii, l. 247, p. 149.

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² Ibid., II, ll. 204-6, p. 73.

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³ Sarkar, Pos. Rack., II, P. 1, p. 112.

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A glimpse into the revenue settlement in southern India prior to the rise of the sons of Saṅgama may be of some importance in tracing the method which these latter and their successors followed in the solution of this vital question of administration. The perfection to which the system of revenue administration attained in the Tamil land, which formed the bulk of the dominions of the Vijayanagara emperors in the south and east, is fully borne out by numerous epigraphical records from the earliest times till the thirteenth century of the Christian era. We may not be far wrong in affirming that the Vijayanagara rulers must have secured the tradition of revenue administration from the Tamil kings, although in the Karṇāṭaka proper they undoubtedly profited by the system which had prevailed in the governments of the Hoysala and Cālukya monarchs. In the Tamil land the revenue administration was thoroughly centralized. An inscription dated in the 124th day of the 24th year of the reign of Rājarāja (A.D. 1008) gives us the following interesting details:

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"The land of those land-holders in villages of Brāhmaṇas, in villages of Vaikhānasas, and in villages of Śramaṇas (i.e., the Jainas) in Śōḻa-nāḍu, in the adjacent districts included in the Śōḻanāḍu, in Toṇḍai-nāḍu, and in Paṇḍi-nāḍu alias Rājarāja-vaḷa-nāḍu who have not paid, on the lands owned by them, the taxes due from villages, along with the other inhabitants of these villages, for three years, of which two are completed, between the 16th and 23rd years of our reign, shall become the property of the village, and shall be liable to be sold by the inhabitants of those villages to the exclusion of the defaulting land-holders. Also, the land of those who have not paid the taxes due from villages for three years, of which two are completed, from the 24th year of our regin, shall be liable to be sold by inhabitants of those villages to the exclusion of the defaulting land-holders". This order "accordingly, having been written by the royal secretary, Rājakēsarinallūru Kiḷavan, and having been approved by the chief Secretary, Mummuḍi Śōḻa-Brahma-Mārāyaṇ and by Mummuḍi Śōḻa Pōśan, (this order) was engrossed from dictation on the 143rd day of the 24th year of the reign".¹

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¹ *Ep. Report* for 1897 (10th August), p. 1. ² 98 of 1910; *Ep. Report* for 1910, pp. 91-2.

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The detailed land-survey, the existence of royal registers, of royal officers, and the strictness with which the monarchs dealt with the defaulters even after the lapse of some years,—all these are implied in the above order given in the reign of Rājarāja. That this was not only a feature of that monarch's reign but was also common throughout Tamil history is evident from the inscriptions of other Tamil kings. Thus the land survey conducted in the sixteenth year of the reign of Kulōttuṅga Chōḻa I and the remission of the customs duties brought to him the well known title of *Suṅgandavirta Chōḻa*.² In the reign of that monarch, however, it appears that assesments were not regularly paid to the royal treasury, and that dues from tenants consequently got accumulated. The king's order (*srimukha*) which declared that the holdings of such of the tenants as had not cleared their dues by the forty-seventh year of the reign must be sold to any purchaser that would buy them and the money remitted to the treasury, was received by the assembly of Vāṇavaṇmādēvi-chaturvēdimaṅgalam in that year. Accordingly the lands owned by some Brahman tenants who, being unable to pay the taxes, had resigned their land and left the villages, were sold to the temple of Tiruchchenneri-Uḍaiyār at Tiruchchirai.¹ In the forty-ninth year of the king's reign a similar measure was passed as regards lands forfeited to the village assembly of Kōnērirājapuram by tenants who had deserted the village being unable to pay the taxes.² The revenue survey conducted in the sixteenth year of Kulōttuṅga is confirmed by another inscription found at Tirumayāṉam in the Tanjore district.³

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