The Colas c27.24

c27.24

An inscription⁶⁶ of Adhirājēndra states that the minor dues from the *dēvadāna* villages of the Tiruvallam temple detailed under the heads *kīḻiraippāṭṭam* and *antarāyam*, were collected at the consolidated rate of 25 *kāśus* per 1000 *kalams*. But what are these 1000 *kalams*? Do they represent gross produce, or the temple's share of it? On the former assumption, the minor taxes would constitute a substantial addition to the burden laid on land. As the same inscription states that one *kāśu* was equal to four *kalams* of paddy, the surcharge on account of the minor taxes comes to 10%. If this is a rate calculated on the gross produce, and if the incidence of land revenue calculated above may be presumed to have continued to hold in this reign as well, cultivators had to give up in one way and another something well over 40% of the gross produce; a rate that does not compare unfavourably with what we know of the land tax under the Vijayanagar or the Mughal rulers.