Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s9.22

v1.c10.s9.22

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