History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c12.7

Language: English

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The existence of other village-officers or rather servants is indicated by the word सकलकरणपरिकर in the extract from Bāṇa given above. The headman of the village (Patel) registrar (Patwari,) and the other servants of the village were apparently hereditary (or Dhruva a word occurring in Gujarat grants and still used in Gujarat) and they constituted a unit of administration which was self-contained and sufficient. They collected the chief land-tax viz. one-sixth of corn and also the minor taxes which were rather numerous and inconvenient. We may quote here the usual expression used in the grants of villages of that period and try to understand them. Take for instance the Khoh grant of Mahārāja Hastin (Corp. Ins. Vol. III p. 96) सोद्रंग: सोपरिकर: अचाटभटप्रवेश: or the grant of Dharasena of A. D. 571, (Corp. Ins. III page 167) where it is said that the land was granted to the grantee सोद्रंगं सोपरिकरं सवातभूतधान्यहिरण्यादेयं सोत्पद्यमानविष्टिकम्, or the grant of Śīlāditya VII (Crop. Ins. III p. 179) सोद्रङ्ग: सोपरिकर: सोत्पद्यमानविष्टिक: सभूतवातप्रत्या- देय: etc. In all these the word उद्रंग must be taken to mean the principal tax i. e. the land-tax. This word has not been yet traced by me to any ancient works. But as Dr. Fleet has suggested in a footnote at page 97 of the Corp. Ins. Vol III, it is plain that it means the chief income from the village. उपरिकर seems, in my opinion, to mean extra taxes and not taxes on extra cultivators as Dr. Fleet suggests.

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What these extra taxes were may be discovered by the aid of the Smritis and the inscriptions also in this volume The Manu Smriti provides for taxes on various articles besides corn in the following ślokas—आददीताथ षड्भागंमांसमधुसर्पिषाम्। गन्धौषधिरसानां च पुष्पमूलफलस्यच॥ पत्रशाकतृणानां च चर्मणां वैदलस्य च। मृण्मयानां च भाण्डानां सर्वस्याश्ममयस्य च ७-३१-३४. These things may be taken to be such things as were sold and not things which any person reared or produced for his own consumption. That these taxes were actually levied in the 7th century appears probable from epigraphic records of the time. The Chammak copperplate grant (Corp. Ins. Vol. III p. 238) deserves to be quoted here at length. It grants the village, अकरादायी अभटछात्रप्रवेश्यः अपारंपरगोवलीवर्द्ः अपुष्पक्षीरसदोहः अचारासनचर्माङ्गः अलवणाक्लिन्नक्रेणिखनकः सर्वविष्टिपरिहारपारिहतः सनिधिः सोपनिधिः सक्लप्तः सोपक्लृप्तः etc. This may be translated as follows.—‘The village is not to pay taxes. It is not to be entered by soldiers or the police. It is not to give the increase of cows and bulls. It is not to be subject to the payment on flowers and milk or on pasturage, hides and charcoal. It is not to pay tax on salt or wet salt, on sale and purchase and on mine produce. It is free of forced labour of every kind. It is granted with treasure trove and other minor finds and with klipta and minor klipta. (I follow here the translation by Dr. Fleet with some exceptions).

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The words निधि and क्लृप्त followed by the words उपनिधि and उपक्लृप्त meaning the same things but of a minor kind suggest that उद्रंग and उपरिकर may also be taken to be the same tax on the chief produce viz. that of land and on minor products such as flowers, fruit, milk, etc. brought for sale as is provided for in the Manu Smriti. How the उद्रंग or land tax was levied, whether by apportioning from the actual produce or by average yield, is not clear. Land was certainly measured, for the measurements of land are often given in inscriptions of the time. Thus in Cop. Ins. Vol. III No. 28 grant of Dharasena p. 166 lands in several villages with particular names even are given and the measurements mentioned are Padāvarta Śatam (100) or Padāvarta Navati (90) or Padāvarta Aṣṭāviṃśati (28). Padāvarta probably means so many square paces, pada being not the actual foot but the pace or two feet. These fields are small indeed but they belong, it must be remembered, to Gujarat where land is very fertile. For other less fertile tracts the measurements must be different, for instance the grant of Pravarasena (Corp. Ins. Vol. III 241) made in the Bhojakata Rājya (or modern Berar) a village is measured by राजमान or royal measure. What this royal measure was is not mentioned; the word used is राजमानिक. भूमिसहस्रायभि: 8000 and Dr. Fleet thinks that the name of the measure was Bhūmi. Apparently however भूमि is a plot of land.

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The 8000 measures of land of the village granted to 1000 Brahmins would probably constitute a large modern village of about 4000 acres and the measure would thus approximate to a Bigha or ½ acre of modern times. The word निवर्तन (Nivartana) is not found in grants given in this volume.* That word however appears to be a very old one. It occurs in the Kautilīya Arthaśāstra at page 107 where its meaning is given in the following table of space measures; 4 cubits = 1 Danda (stick) 10 Dandas = 1 Rajju (chain) and 3 Rajjus = 1 nivartana. This makes the nivartana equal to 120 cubits i.e. 180 feet or 60 yards length. The field or square nivartana would be a square area with nivartana as one side i.e. 3600 sq. yards. As acre consists of 4840 sq. yards which makes the acre equal to approximately 1 ⅓ nivartanas. The measure of the bigha of the Mahomedans was also based on the danda or stick, being taken to be 20 sticks long by 20 sticks broad and was nearly one half of the nivartana. Perhaps the Bhūmi mentioned in the above grant may be the nivartana which certainly was an old measure. In whatever manner realised, the उद्रंग or land tax was received in kind and probably the उपरिकर or minor taxes were also received in kind. The grain was stored by a special officer of the State called the कोष्ठागाराध्यक्ष, who was also in charge of the minor articles. These were either immediately sold or were stored for future use, according to their nature.

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Interesting details of the manner of sale or storage are to be found in the Kautilīya Artha Śāstra, pages 93-99.