The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t7.3

v2.c15.s3.t7.3

The government, as has been stated already, derived the bulk of its revenue from the land tax. More land was brought under cultivation in this than in any previous periods, as is proved by the *Local Records*. These state that much of the forest in the Śrīśailam and other regions was cut down by the Kākatīya monarchs Gaṇapatidēva, Rudramadēvi, and more particularly Pratāparudradēva, who thus vastly extended habitable and cultivable areas. Since the Kākatīya kings further encouraged agriculture by improving irrigational facilities, especially by the construction of large tanks called in regional language *samudrams*, and the extent of arable land thus rapidly increased, the income derived from the soil must have been augmented in due proportion. A study of the inscriptions of the Kākatīya period shows that land was divided, as at present, into dry (*veli-volamu* or *veli-chēnu* or *veli-bhūmi*), wet (*nīru-nēla*), and garden areas (*tōṭa-bhūmi*) for purposes of assessment, in accordance with the nature and fertility of the soil. *Tōṭa-bhūmi* was also called *tōṭa-polamu*. After this preliminary classification the land was surveyed by means of a bamboo pole (*gaḍa* or *daṇḍaka* or *kōla*) usually of thirty-two *jēnas* in length.¹ A study of the inscriptions of the period reveals the fact that there were regional variations in the standard length of the pole in different parts of the Kākatīya empire; for instance, poles of eight and twenty-four cubits in length for measuring house sites and fields respectively are referred to in an inscription at Penumūli in the Guntur district.² The pole used for measuring or surveying lands in many places during the Kākatīya period was of thirty-two cubits in length, known as *Kēsaripāṭi-gaḍa*, a pole which was in use in the village of Kēsaripāḍu. The assessment on wet land differed from that on dry land in accordance with the difference in standard measure. It was customary that the wet land should be measured in *marturu* or *mattar*, and its subdivisions, while dry land was reckoned in *khaṇḍuva*, *khaṇḍuka*, or *puṭṭi* and its component parts; it is clear that the former comprised a comparatively smaller area than the latter. How the assessment was made is not known. The monarch had his own land called ‘*rācha-doḍḍi*’ or ‘*rāchapolamu*’ probably in each village in the district.³ This land as well as its produce was the exclusive property of the king himself.