The Colas c27.19

c27.19

Not one of the inscriptions, however, contains a definite statement of the proportion of the produce that formed the normal share of the state. Frequently enough the absolute quantity of paddy or other produce collected in the form of particular taxes from given units of measure is stated; one inscription³⁶ of the time of Rājādhirāja I, for instance, records that the *iṟai* paid to a temple on some lands was 28 *kalams* of paddy per *vēli* while on others it was only 19; it is clear that the rate of assessment differed with the fertility of the soil. The classification of land into different grades, as many as twelve or more grades (*taram*),³⁷ and unclassed lands (*taramili*) being alluded to, also points to the same conclusion. But in no single instance do we seem to have the data for calculating the precise ratio between the tax and the yield. In the circumstances, any effort to compare the incidence of the land-tax under the Cōḷas with that in modern times is bound to be unsuccessful.³⁸ Vague statements to the effect that the king followed the laws of Manu or that he collected one-sixth of the produce of the earth as the tax due to him³⁹ can hardly be accepted at their face value. The standard rate of 100 *kalams* per *vēli*, which figures in the Tanjore inscriptions of the reign of Rājarāja I as the share of the temple on *dēvadāna* lands⁴⁰ may, on the assumption that the fertility of land was then very much what it is now, be found to work out at something like a third of the gross produce. It is possible that this represents the state’s share on these lands made over to the temple; if this conclusion is correct the land tax under the Cōḷas would compare not unfavourably with what it was at other times and in other parts of India. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Munro calculated that in Anantapur the *sarkar* share was no less than 45¾% of the gross produce from land.⁴¹