A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c14.77

c14.77

For purposes of administration the empire was divided into convenient areas with lower subdivisions in the Chola empire, the divisions in descending order being *vaḷanāḍu* or *maṇḍalam*, *nāḍu*, and *kūṟṟam*. Large townships formed a separate *kūṟṟam* by themselves, being known as *taniyūr* or *tankūṟṟam*. Land revenue being the mainstay of public finance, great care was bestowed on the recording of land rights and revenue dues. All land was carefully surveyed and classified into tax-bearing and non-taxable lands. In every village and town, the residential part of the village (*ūr nattam*), temples, tanks, channels passing through the village, the *paraccēri* (pariahs' hamlet), *kammāṇaccēri* (artisans' quarters), the burning ground (*śuḍugāḍu*) were exempt from all taxes. The total extent of such areas was subtracted from the gross area of the village to ascertain the net area of taxable land. In its turn, taxable land was classified into different grades according to its natural fertility and the crops raised on it. The existence of immunities and exemptions in favour of individuals and institutions was also carefully noted in the accounts. The village as a whole was responsible for the payment of the entire revenue due from it to the king's officers. The process of collection was sometimes harsh, and villages had reason to complain of their treatment by royal officers even in the best days of the Chola empire. When central control weakened, local oppression became more unrestrained, and instances are known of people from villages in an entire district meeting together and deciding upon common action to resist arbitrary and unusual imposts. The revenue was collected in cash or kind according to convenience. Besides land revenue there were tolls on goods in transit, taxes on professions and houses, dues levied on ceremonial occasions like marriages, and judicial fines. Besides these public dues of a general nature, sections of the people often agreed to tax themselves voluntarily for some particular object they had in view.