Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s9: Section 9. Customs and Other Minor Sources
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s9
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Section 9. Customs and Other Minor Sources
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A most fruitful field of State revenue was made up of customs. In the *Sukranīti* the term *śulka* or duty is used in connection both with customs and excise. It is to be collected at the market-places, streets and mines.⁴ It is to be realized only once, either from the buyer or from the seller. If the seller has to part with the commodity at a loss, no duty is to be paid by him. In that event the buyer has to pay it.¹ The same authority gives the normal rate as one-thirty-second, which could rise to one-sixteenth.² We have no evidence to judge whether this percentage was kept up by the Vijayanagara government. Neither are we in a position to say whether it levied duties at the mines, although, as remarked elsewhere, there were mines in the Empire. But the customs duties levied at market-places and at the principal gates of the capital were called *suṅkam*. Rice classifies these under three headings: *sthala-ādāyam* or customs on goods imported to be sold at one place; *mārga-ādāyam* or duties on goods in transit through a district; and *māmūl-ādāyam* levied on goods exported to foreign countries.³ The different centres where customs dues were collected were called *ṭhāṇa* (*thānya*?) and *kaṭṭe*.
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⁴ *Sukranīti*, IV, ii, l. 212, p. 147; Sarkar, Pos. Back, Bk. II, P. I, pp. 117-8.
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¹ Sukraniti, IV, ii, l. 219, p. 147, n. (2). ² Ibid., IV, ii, ll. 216-217, p. 147. ³ Rice, My. Gas., I, p. 477 (1st ed.), I, p. 583 (Rev. ed.), Rice's other remarks on this page are interesting. ⁴ E.C., VIII, Sb. 299, p. 52. ⁵ Rice, My. Ins., pp. 79-125. These names occur frequently in inscriptions. B.A.S. ⁶ E.C., XI, Jl. 9, p. 85. ⁷ Ep. Report for 1915, p.
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A very brief historical sketch of the customs duties as understood in pre-Vijayanagara days may not be out of place here. In the early times, too, customs duties formed an important part of the State revenue. We may also observe that even betel-leaf sellers had to pay duties. Thus the betel-leaf sellers in A.D. 1074 had to pay *okkal dere*,⁴ which seems to have been more of the nature of a tax or an impost rather than that of the *ādāyam* of the later age. However, the customs and imposts as known in the Karṇāṭaka went by the general names of *herjuṅka* and *vaḍḍarāvula*.⁵ Officers of the government were placed over the *perjuṅka* or Big Customs. Sometimes, as in A.D. 1111, these superior officers were called *pērggaḍe*.⁶ The rates of the duties in the Tamil land, according to an inscription dated in the tenth year of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya, were the following: half a *paṇam* on each bundle of female cloths, one quarter *paṇam* on each *poḍi* of pepper, one quarter *paṇam* on each *poḍi* of areca-nuts: one quarter *paṇam* on each gold piece (*poṇ*) tested by rubbing, two *kāśu* on each *poḍi* of rice; one *kāśu* on each *poḍi* of paddy; and one *kāśu* on each head-load.⁷ But these rates often varied in different provinces.
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¹⁰⁴ Cf. E.C. IV, Ng. 38, p. 123, text, p. 349.
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With what scrupulous care the Vijayangara monarchs looked after the customs is told to us by 'Abdur Razzāq. "The fortress. . . . is made of stone and mortar, with strong gates, where guards are always posted, who are very diligent in the collection of taxes, *jisyāt*".¹ Nuniz gives us the amount of the revenue derived by the State from customs. He describes the city of Nāgalāpura: "It now yields forty-two thousand *pardaos* of duties for things which enter into it, the duties in this land being very great; since nothing comes through the gates that does not pay duty, even men and women, as well as head-loads, and all merchandise".² Then again, while describing the great tank built by Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya, the same chronicler writes: "Above this tank is a very large ridge all enclosed, and in the middle some very strong gates with two towers, one on one side and one on the other; and within are always posted 1,000 men on guard. For through this gate all things must enter that come into the two cities, since in order to enter the city of Bisnaga there is no other road but this, all other roads meeting there. This gate is rented out for 12,000 *pardaos* each year, and no man can enter it without paying just what the renters ask, country folk as well as strangers. . . . and every day there enter by these two gates 2,000 oxen, and every one of these pays three *vintēes* ("about 3½d" [?]), except certain polled oxen without horns, which never pay anything in any part of the realm".³ Nuniz, therefore, confirms the evidence of 'Abdur Razzāq about the strictness and care with which the State collected customs duties at the main gates of the capital. The Portuguese chronicler speaks of the main gates being "rented out for 12,000 *pardaos* each year",⁴ and herein we have an example of the *guttige* system so common in other parts of the Empire. Castanheda also informs us that this system of letting out gateways on contract yielded immense revenue. While describing the *thānas* around Goa, he says that the *tanadaris* (i.e., *thānyadāra*?) in that region realized an income "of more than 500,000 gold *pardaos*".⁵
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¹ Elliot, *Hist. of India*, IV, p. 106; Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 90.
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² Sewell, *ibid.*, pp. 363-4.
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³ *Ibid.*, pp. 365-6, & p. 366, n. 3.
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⁴ Cf. Hayavadana Rao, *I.A.*, XL, p. 272.
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⁵ Sewell, *ibid.*, p. 143.
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The names of some of the prominent *thānas* in the western parts of the Vijayanagara Empire are given in an inscription dated A.D. 1606. They were the following: Ikkēri, Sadāśiva, Sāgara, Sirivaṅte, Kesanūr, Tavanidhi, Gutti, Jaḍeya, Kupaṭūr, Soraba, Togarasi, Kabūr, Uḍugaṇi, Jambūr, Mahādēvapura, Kumbasi, Hāranahaḷḷi, Ānaṅdapura, Mosarūr, Pombuchcha, Dānivāsa, Araga, Durgga, Āgumbe, Kōvi, Bāguñji, Belare, Kalasa, Mēgunda, Kiga, Nemmāru, Muttūru, Muḍe, Kāru, Bidirūru, Hulikallu, Hannara, Karaūru, Saulanāḍu, Sāvaṅtanakaṭṭe, Bhāraṅgi, and Āvinahaḷḷi.¹ From an inscription dated A.D. 1542, it appears that the superior officer, who was responsible for customs dues, was called nāyaka, and his office, pāṭupaṭya;² while the officials under him, as we shall see presently, were known as the adhikāris of the hejjuṅka. Two adhikāris are mentioned in A.D. 1518.³
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¹ E.C., VIII, Sa. 123, p. 117.
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² E.C., III, Sr. 6, pp. 7-8. op. cit. For a further explanation of the designation and functions of a nāyaka, see infra Chapter VI Provincial Administration.
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³ E.C., XI, Hk. 73, p. 125.
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We may now attempt to form an idea of the goods that had to pay customs dues and of the rate of duties levied by the Government. A copper plate grant dated A.D. 1382 mentions a great array of goods and the rate of customs the people had to pay on them. The annual dues were as follows: Immovable property: for light assessment villages (sthāvara sthaḷaka hoṅguṭṭageya grāmakke) 1 bēle per gadyāṇa, for villages cultivated on half share (vāravan ikkuva grāmaṅgalige), 1 bēle per gadyāṇa, according to the rent payable in money; for rice and grain 2 bēle per khaṇḍuga for government and private shares united (bhaṭṭa nānādhānya irāya prati-khaṇḍuga ondakke ibbala). Particulars of the dues payable on grain carried by pack bullocks (mūleya svāmyada vivara): for the nava ratna (nine kinds of grain?) [=gems?] 2 fanams per gadyāṇa reckoned on the price. Perfumes: fresh camphor 1 hāga per kuruju (or kūru); paṇne (?) 1 bēle per kuruju; musk 1 bēle per tōla; the red flower crocus sativa 1 hāga each; dark sandal chips (agilu) 1 aḍḍa per tōla; sandal wood 1 hāga per tōla; sāndu javādi puṇugu pratikaṇaju three per hāga; vastra paika dēvagiri javali 1 bēle (? cloths from Dēvagiri); wedding cloths 1 visa; white cloths 80 pieces to a malavi, 1 aḍḍa; silk cloths 1 aḍḍa per tōla; raw silk, 1 hāga per tōla; spun cotton 1 aḍḍa per malavi; cotton 1 hāga per malavi; wool, (kambali? blankets?) 1 hāga per malavi; sack cloth (kāgeyapaḷḷe) 1 visa per piece (paṭṭe); rugs and carpets (ratnagaṁbaḷi jambuk-hāna) 1 hāga per maḷavi; palmyra leaves (for writing upon) 1 hāga per maḷavi;; gōṇi (bags made out of sack cloth?) 1 hāga per maḷavi of pieces. Grains: for these six kinds, nellu, jōḷa, rāgi, navaṇi (or navaṇe), barugu and sāve, 1 bēle per load. Split grains: gōdhi, kaḍale, ellu-agase, kusube, hesaru, uddu, togari, huruvaḷḷi, and other pulses, 1 hāga per load. A load of rice, 1 bēle; a bullock load of great value,¹ from other countries (para-dēśadiṁda bahumānyada ettiṅge) 1 hāga; a load of buffalo ghee 1 aḍḍa; a load of salt 1 bēle; a load of jaggery 1 hāga; a load of sugar 1 aḍḍa; a load of areca-nut 1 hāga; a load of betel leaves for chewing 1 hāga; a load of chillies 1 aḍḍa; turmeric, garlic, cummin seed, fenu greek, mustard, and the rest 1 hāga; a cart-load of sugar-cane 1 hāga; a load of aḷḷada 1 hāga; a cart-load of nārivaṇa fruit 1 hāga; a cart-load of mēlōgara fruit 1 hāga; āhoṛe each hulu vīsa; a load of fruits for eating and mēlōgara 1 bēle; betel vines 1 leaf per row; areca-nut trees 1 nut daily for each line; timber 1 bēle a cart-load; straw and firewood 1 bēle a cart-load; siṅgavaḷtigeya māṭuvāghēṇiṁdam (?) country bred horses (ōlagaṇ kudurege) 1 bēle a gadyāṇa a vīsa (?) āghēṇiṁdam mēle holeya kudure kheḍiliya kudure nāḍu kudure 1 bēle a gadyāṇa; elephants 1 hāga per gadyāṇa; camels 1 bēle a gadyāṇa; female servants (toṭṭiṅge) 1 bēle per gadyāṇa; carts 1 bēle per gadyāṇa; bullocks, bēle a head; she-buffaloes, 1 hāga a head; goats, sheep and such other cattle (ā) [ṇ] ḍu kuṛi kālu-naḍe) 1 vīsa according to the excise rate; (on goods coming from) both roads, 1 bēle per gadyāṇa; servants (or followers? parivārike) 1 paṇa a head every year; chargers (attached to the suite) of an amara-daṇṇāyaka 5 paṇa every year; great officials of the executive department (list?) (?viniyōgada paikakke), from 10 up to 100 honnu; field slaves (?pariyantarada-jīvitagāṭarige) a paṇa a year for each; life-long slaves (? hechchu-jīvitagāṭarige) on every 100 gadyāṇa 2 paṇa every year; princes for the grants to the viceroy (?kumāraru dhoregaḷa umbalige) on every 100 gadyāṇa 2 paṇa every year . . .²
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¹ Rice gives a different meaning—'a bullock load of untaxed grain' My Ins., p. 270.
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² Rice, ibid., p. 269; E.C., V., P. I. Bl. 75, p. 63; P. II, pp. 201-3.
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The names of some dues given in A.D. 1404 were suṅka, kāruka, grāma-gadyāṇa, and pañcha-kāruka.³ The transit duties in about A.D. 1413 in Baṅkiyapura, in the Dummi-nāḍ and Bānūr-nāḍ, included those on areca-nuts, on loads of betel leaf, on contract for articles coming from beyond the river, and on those coming from another (as for example, Baṅkiyapura) *ṭhāṇa*.¹
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³ E.C., VIII, Tl., 9, p. 164.
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¹ E.C., VII, Sh. 30, pp. 15-6.
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The Vijayanagara government maintained the old custom as regards the imposts. We gather this from an inscription dated A.D. 1440 which says that Mallarasa, the *adhikāri* of the *hejjunka* in the Soṇḍeyakoppa-vēṇṭhe, gave to the god Chokka-nātha of Dombalūr a charter by which, as in the olden days, customs officers came to Soṇḍeyakoppa (and) made a gift of their share of the *hejjunka* levied from those who came to any of the villages within the boundaries (of the land) belonging to the god Chokka-nātha of Dombalūr.² An inscription of A.D. 1491 informs us that one *haṇa* was the rate levied on every *honnu*, according to former custom.³ In A.D. 1520 these following were the rates levied: Half a *paikamu* (= a farthing) on every bag of the following articles: great millet, millet, . . . . salt, mangoes, myrobalan fruits, brinjals, clearing nuts, and *māvena* (a fragrant root like sarsaparilla); at one *paikamu* on every bag of the following: green gram, black gram, bengal gram, horse gram, red gram, wheat, sesamum seeds, oil seeds, black pulse, pulse, cotton, tamarinds, gall-nuts, myrobalan seeds, yam, *chāma* (and) *chiragaḍam* (roots); at one *damma*⁴ (=apparently the same as *dramma*) on every bag of the following: onions, turmeric, dammer, fenugreek, cummin, mustard, salagas, of new gunny bags, green ginger, lime fruits (and) cocoanuts; at two *dammas* on every bag of the following: jaggery, cleaned cotton, ghee, castor oil, *saṅgaḍi* (?), flowers of the *bassia latifolia* (tree), dry ginger, iron and steel chisels; at three *dammas* on every bag of mango jelly; at four *dammas* on every bag of the following: sugar, areca-nuts, cotton-thread, and betel leaves; at six *dammas* on every bag of the following: long pepper, pepper, sandal, cloves, nutmeg, mace, lead, tin (and) copper; and at one chavela (= chavalama = about one shilling)¹ on a double bullock load of women's garments. The inscription which enumerates these details, informs us that the mūle-visa levied at the above rates from many people were granted to a temple by Nāḍiṇḍla Gōparasayyaṅgāru for the merit of the chief minister Sāḷuva Timma and his wife Lakshmammā² That the duties levied on grains were called by the same name is confirmed by an undated inscription of the reign of Achyuta Rāya which tells us that customs on grains (i.e., mūle-visa) and tolls "passing either way" were levied in Rūpalaguḍiya-thānya in Yāḷapaya-sime.³
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² E.C., IX, Bn. 8, p. 5.
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³ E.C., III, Nj. 118, p. 106.
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⁴ It is interesting to note how this coin, which could be no other than the ancient *drachma*, has survived till the middle of the 16th century in southern India. For some notices on this coin; see Bombay Gaz., I. P. II, p. 21, ns. (1) and (6); *Ep. Ind.*, I, p. 168, seq; *Ep. Ind.* II, p. 130; E.C. VIII, Sb. 479, p. 81; *Ep. Ind.*, VI, p. 233; *Ep. Rep.* for 1911, p. 73; *Ep. Rep.* for 1915, p. 102; 682 of 1916.
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¹ Brown, Telugu-English Dictionary. q. v.
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² Ep. Ind., VI, pp. 232-3.
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³ 223 of 1913.
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The places where customs duties were levied in the Telugu country in about A.D. 1520 were the following: vasantagaruvus (i.e. ? rest-houses), water-sheds, salt beds, market towns, and roads frequented by people.⁴ The dues (āya) levied on articles at the fair at Hoḷalakere, Chitaldroog district, in A.D. 1522, seem to have been fixed with the unanimous consent of the Gauṇḍas, and the Nānā-dēśis of the 96,000 (Gaṅgavāḍi ?).⁵ The miscellaneous excise duties in A.D. 1536 were these—the miscellaneous excise for oil (chiluvāna suṅka gāṇa), plantain leaves and grain (bāle-yele taragu), watch and ward (mādārike taḷavārike), salt-guards (uppinakāvali) mambāla (?); export duty and all other taxes payable to the palace (hora-saluvali muntāda kuḷagal).⁶ The rate on every pack of oxen collected at the main gate of the capital, according to Nuniz, as already remarked, was three vintēes (or 3½d).⁷ This may be compared with the rate levied at Virupāpura, Bellary district, which, according to an inscription dated Saka 1479 (A.D. 1557-8), was one kāśu per hēru (bullock pack).⁸ The rate allowed per every load (of bullock-pack) by the great Āvaṭi-nāḍ Prabhu, Hāvaḷi Bayappa Gauḍa, in A.D. 1586, was one mūle-gāsu.⁹ Floris in A.D. 1613 on reaching Masulipatam, "took a Caul at foure per Centum, & landed goods".¹⁰
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⁴ Ep. Ind., VI, p. 232 op. cit. Cf. Sukra's rule supra. p. 218.
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⁵ E.C., XI, Hk. 34, p. 120.
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⁶ E.C., IV, Ch. 196, p. 24.
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⁷ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 366, op. cit.
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⁸ 704 of 1919.
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⁹ E.C., IX, DB. 5, p. 62.
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¹⁰ Floris, Purchas, Pilgrims III, p. 335. But Masulipatam, as we have already seen, was outside the Vijayanagara Empire by this time. B.A.S.
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We may mention the names of some imposts in A.D. 1561: kānike (offerings or gifts), kappa (tribute), jodi (a favourable quit-rent), bēdige (begging), talavārike (village watchman's dues), alivu (waste or ruin), anyāya (injustice), samaya (season or proper time), saṅkhya (enumeration), bildāna (transit dues or else fallow land), suṅka (customs), saudige (firewood), birāḍa (apportioning, that is, of any extra fine or assessment upon a village, amongst the individuals), hiṭṭu, (flour, or pudding, that is, for feeding government peons when passing through a village on duty), huṇmi (full moon), and bijavari (the amount of seed required for a portion of land).¹
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¹ Rice, My. Ins., p. 229, n. ² E.C., II, No. 333, p. 141, op. cit. ³ 585 of 1919. ⁴ E.C., II, No. 344, p. 146. ⁵ E.C., IX, Bn. 96, p. 19, op. cit. ⁶ E.C., XII, Si. 76, p. 99. ⁷ My. Arch. Report for 1915, p. 76. ⁸ E.C., VIII, Sa. 123, p. 117, op. cit.
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As regards the tax on houses, we may be permitted to repeat that in about A.D. 1206 it was ordered that eight haṇas had to be paid once for all on houses, and that no more payment would be levied on that account.² Details about the house tax in the Vijayanagara are lacking. Nevertheless, the few notices we have of this tax enable us to gather something about it. Pottarasan, the minister (pradhāni) of Sāḷuva Maṅgu Mahārāja, for example, was authorized to collect two paṇas on every storeyed-house and one paṇa on houses with inside verandahs.³ That this was more or less the common rate can be inferred from other Vijayanagara inscriptions. In A.D. 1368 at Belgola one haṇa a year was levied on every Jaina house, and this seems to have been the rate "throughout the whole kingdom".⁴ In about A.D. 1402, as remarked elsewhere, the rate of the house tax (for the Vaiśya community?) was one haṇa per house per annum.⁵
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As regards the rate of tax on shops and towns, we have in A.D. 1379 for an old town one ga a year; for a small town five ma; for a shop at the festival of the god's tīrtha one ma.⁶ The dues on shops were called māligesuṅka.⁷ The rate on all animals in the kingdom above the Ghats in A.D. 1606, in the times of Veṅkaṭapa Nāyaka, was one visa for each animal.⁸
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In what way the Nāyakas, who held the pārupatya over certain large areas, and the Adhikāris, who were placed over the hejjunkas or Big Customs, were subject to the direct control of the Central Government cannot be made out for the present. The inefficiency of some of these officials is shown in a few instances of unauthorized collection of customs dues; but it may be noted at the same time that the Government at once set matters right by redressing the grievances and granting the people a remission of taxes. Peddirāja in A.D. 1542, in the reign of Achyūta Rāya, granted to the people of the Dalavāyi-agrahāras a śāsana as follows: "Whereas in the aforesaid agrahāras and villages (of Dalavāyi-agrahāras and Srīrangapaṭṭaṇa) which Rāma Bhaṭṭaya had assigned to me for his māgaṇi customs duties which did not exist before have been levied from all by Kāmappa Nāyaka while he held the pārupatya,—the whole of these customs dues and collection, altogether 300 gadyāṇas, and the house-dues of the Peraṅgūr-ayya for Hāruvahaḷḷi-Vogeya-samudra, in order that merit might accrue to the king and to Rāma Bhaṭṭayya, I have freely remitted to you, having summoned the cultivators. . . ."¹
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¹ E.C., III, Sr. 6, pp. 7-8, op. cit.
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The concluding lines of the same grant may be taken to be the assurance which the higher officers gave the people whenever the latter were harassed by petty government servants. Peddirāja says: "For the areca-nut of your rent-free lands neither customs nor collections are due. Besides the local transport tax of three haṇa to the merchants, who buy your arecanut, why pay customs and collection? You have nothing to do with them, and may enjoy (your produce) free of all imposts". Since the Brahmans, who formed the most important members of the agrahāras, were given this assurance "in the presence of all the cultivators," we may reasonably assume that it was equally well intended to cover the interests of all other classes of people, without whom the Brahmans could never have conducted the affairs of an agrahāra.
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The above instance of a high government official remitting taxes "in the presence of all the cultivators" brings us to an interesting feature of Vijayanagara polity. This was the voice which the common people had in the matter of granting, and, in some instances, of fixing, the dues in their locality. The rate of dues on weavers, for example, was fixed by the officers of the government as well as by the people themselves. An inscription dated only in the cyclic year Sarvajit, Kārttigai, 3, found at Mānampāḍi, Chingleput district, records an order of Tirumalai-Nambi, the Agent of Tirumalai Kumbhakōṇam Tātāchārya, Tirumāliruñjōlai Ayyaṇ, the trustees of the temple of Pērarulāḷap-Perumāḷ, the citizens and accountants of the temple, fixing the rate of the tax on looms and the paḍiñjakāṇikkai to be paid to the temple treasury by the weavers of Vāṇavanmādēvi during the régime of Kṛṣṇayyaṅgārayan.¹
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¹ 376 of 1923.
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This custom of allowing the average man a right over the local dues of the district seems to have been in vogue from the commencement of Vijayanagara history. That accounts for the Gauḍas and Seṭṭis granting a viceroy in A.D. 1378 the dues of their province. "Adorned with all titles . . . the Sādali-nāḍ Gauḍas (named), the four Seṭṭis of Sege, and all the elders of the Sālumūle, having set up the baisaṇige made the following regulations—Grain entering the fair wholesale, free of all dues for one year: after that the following dues to be levied—according to the custom of Sādali, the royal due one, the lordship due one, the five Seṭṭis' due one, for miṇḍa-guḍḍas one,—these five dues may Dēpaṇṇa Oḍeyar (the viceroy) levy and live" permanently.²
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² Infra, Volume II, Chapter V.
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The influence of these local bodies and corporations was, therefore, felt by the Central Government, whose officers could neither remit taxes nor make gifts without the consent of the former. Abbarāja Timmappa, the Agent of the Pradhāni Tirumala Rāja, in Saka 1457 (A.D. 1535-6), granted the mūle-visa of certain villages for the offerings of the god Tiruveṅgalanātha at Tirumaladēviyarapaṭṭana, (Bellary district?), with the consent of the seṭṭipaṭṭanasvāmis of the villages of Tirumaladēviyarapaṭṭana, Varadarājamannapaṭṭaṇa and Kṛṣṇāpura, and of the mahā-nāḍu (General Assembly) of Dēsāvara.⁴ An officer of Achyuta Rāya, Kampa Dēvarasa, is said to have made a gift of some duties on crops and of the fees on marriages to the temple of Gaurēśvara at Tirumaladēviammanavarapaṭṭaṇa, obviously the same locality referred to above, in Saka 1433, with the consent of the nānā-dēśis.¹ From these instances one may reasonably conclude that the Vijayanagara Government was liberal enough to acknowledge the existence and power of important organizations like the guilds of merchants and the popular assemblies of villagers.
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³ E.C. X, Sd. 112, pp. 196-7.
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⁴ 681 of 1922; Ep. Report for 1923, p. 120.
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¹ 679 of 1922; Ep. Report for 1923, p. 120. ² Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 111. ³ The reference is obviously to the Superintendent of Prostitutes, Arthaśāstra, Bk. II., Ch. VI, p. 63; Ch. XXVI, pp. 148-9. B.A.S. ⁴ Smith, Oxford History of India, p. 314.