Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s9.1

v1.c10.s9.1

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*.