A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c13.50

c13.50

Unless specially exempted, the villages were liable to visits from royal officers for digging for salt, the manufacture of sugar and the arrest of culprits. They also had to supply draught bulls to help the progress of touring officers, besides other amenities such as accommodation, beds, boiled rice, milk, curds, grass, fuel, and green vegetables, besides free labour on specified public works. In addition to the land tax and these occasional demands from officials, the people were subjected to a variety of imposts, direct and indirect. Houses and professions were taxed, market dues and tolls on merchandise moved from place to place were collected, besides judicial dues and fines. Arab writers who knew western India well thought that the people of India were heavily taxed, so that their monarchs might have their treasuries full. To complete the picture, we must note that besides these compulsory levies, central and local, a number of voluntary imposts for particular purposes such as the maintenance of a tank, temple, feeding house, college or hospital were undertaken by particular corporations, mostly of merchants.