The Colas c27.3

c27.3

The nature of the charges on the public revenues depended upon the agency that gathered the tax or the due; for it was not merely the king's government that collected revenue in the form of taxes; local bodies and other agencies of a communal or professional character also raised levies for various purposes. The main charge on the revenues of the king was the salaries of officials, including the maintenance of the army and the navy; in the higher rungs of public service these salaries took the form of assignments of particular revenue items in particular areas so that what was paid into the king's treasury (*tālam*) was a net income that remained after deductions on account of such assignments. What remained after paying the charges of administration was the property of the king and entirely at his disposal. A good part of it no doubt went to the maintenance of the king's personal establishment including the numerous queens and their retinues. Members of the royal family who commanded the special affection of the ruling monarch, like Śembiyanmahādēvi in Uttama Cōḷa's reign, Kundavai in Rājarāja's, must have received very sumptuous allowances from the king's treasury. A great amount of treasure was kept in the form of jewels and precious stones which served the double purpose of personal distinction for the king and a financial reserve for the state. What Abu Zayd notes generally of Indian kings in the beginning of the tenth century no doubt applied to conditions in the Cōḷa court as well.¹ 'The Kings of India wear ear-rings of precious-stones mounted on gold. They wear round the neck collars of great value made of precious stones, red (rubies) and green (emeralds), but pearls have the greatest value and in most cases they are used. In fact, pearls constitute the treasure of the kings and their financial reserve.² The generals and the high functionaries wear equally collars of pearls.' On a smaller scale the assignees who were in the enjoyment of incomes of varying sizes from the areas assigned to them imitated the model set by the king. All of them distributed their resources among hoarding, personal expenditure, and 'charity', which went to meet much of what we should now call social expenditure.