Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c7.t2.145

c7.t2.145

But we are not able to know the exact rates of taxes on the other industries. There were taxes on looms (*tarikkaḍamai*)156 oil-mills (*śekkuḍamai*)157 *arīśikāṇam*,158 gold (*poṇvari*),159 superior gold (*śempoṇvari*), 160 on grazing (*pulvari*),¹⁶¹ folds,¹⁶² income from thread (*nūlāyam*)163 silkthread (*paṭṭādainūlāyam*)164 running of boats (*marakkalam*)¹⁶⁵ and ferry boat.¹⁶⁶ The manufacture of the stamps for looms was also taxed.¹⁶⁷ It is interesting to note here that tax was paid even by the government looms.¹⁶⁸ Forest lands were leased out to bidders.¹⁶⁹ There was another tax called the furnace tax.¹⁷⁰ Rice, evidently having this tax in view, says : “In the winter season, a certain class employed themselves in collecting black sand and earth, in channels from the hills from which they smelted iron used for agricultural and other uses. This ore was smelted in a kind of furnace or large fire stand called *hommal*. For permission of cutting down wood for charcoal and for digging the ore they paid an yearly revenue called *homlagutta* proportioned to the quantity of iron made in the district.”¹⁷¹