Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.114

v3.c42.s2.t1.114

Extortionate Taxes.—In S. 1865 (A.D. 1809), as if industry were not already sufficiently shackled, the regent established a new tax on all corn exported from his dominions. It was termed *lattha*, and amounted to a rupee and a half per *mauni*. This tax—not less unjust in origin than vexatious in operation—worse than even the infamous *gabelle*, or the *droit d’aubaine* of France—was another fruit of monopoly. It was at first confined to the grower, though of course it fell indirectly on the consumer ; but the *Jagatya*,¹ or chief collector of the customs, a man after the regent’s own heart, was so pleased with its efficiency on the very first trial, that he advised his master to push it farther, and it was accordingly levied as well on the farmer as the purchaser. An item of ten lakhs was at once added to the budget; and as if this were insufficient to stop all competition between the regent-farmer-general and his subjects, three, four, nay even five *latthas*, have been levied from the same grain before it was retailed for consumption. Kotah exhibited the picture of a people, if not absolutely starving, yet living in penury in the midst of plenty. Neither the lands of his chiefs nor those of his ministers were exempt from the operation of this tax, and all were at the mercy of the Jagatya, from whose arbitrary will there was no appeal. It had reached the very height of oppression about the period of the alliance with the British Government. This collector had become a part of his system; and if the regent required a few lakhs of ready money, *Jo hukm*, ‘your commands,’ was the reply. A list was made out of ‘arrears of *lattha*,’ and friend and foe, minister, banker, trader, and farmer, had a circular. Remonstrance was not only vain but [544] dangerous: even his ancient friend, the Pandit Balal, had twenty-five thousand rupees to pay in one of these schedules; the *homme d’affaires* of one of his confidential chiefs, five thousand; his own foreign minister a share, and many bankers of the town, four thousand, five thousand, and ten thousand each. The term *lattha* was an abuse of language for a forced contribution; in fact the obnoxious and well-known *dand* of Rajwara. It alienated the minds of all men, and nearly occasioned the regent’s ruin; for scarcely was their individual sympathy expressed, when the Hara princes conspired to emancipate themselves from his interminable and galling protection.