Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s4: Section 4. Taxes in the Vijayanagara Empire

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s4

Language: English

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

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s4: Section 4. Taxes in the Vijayanagara Empire

Section 4. Taxes in the Vijayanagara Empire

Cites (3)