History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c20.s1.t3.1

c20.s1.t3.1

We may now set forth the evidence regarding the principal sources of revenue, on which depended the stability and strength of the state.⁴ The Rajor inscription of the Pratihāra feudatory Mathanadeva mentions numerous dues from a village⁵ like the *Bhoga* and the *Mayūta* income (probably the contributions of fruits, firewood, etc.), with all customary and not customary, fixed and not fixed receipts; the shares of all sorts of grain; the *Khalabhikṣā* (cess on threshing floors);¹ *Prasthaka*; *Skandhaka*; and *Mārgaṇaka*.² The meaning of these three terms is not quite clear. Dr. Ghoshal, however, thinks that *Mārgaṇaka* represented benevolences of a general character levied upon the villages, as distinguished from the special forms called *Prasthaka* (a cess on each *prastha* of grain over and above the usual grain-share) and *Skandhaka* (perhaps a cess at a certain rate per load).³