Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c7.t2.199

c7.t2.199

In those days the state extracted compulsory service from the people on state undertakings. The ūliyam²¹¹ or āḷamañji²¹² mentioned in the inscriptions refer to this compulsory labour. It was demanded for deepening lakes (ēri kuḷi veṭṭa), for digging canals for conducting water from rivers for irrigation purposes (ārrukkāl veṭṭa), and bigger canals (vāykkālveṭṭa),²¹³ for working on hills and constructing temple walls,²¹⁴ for menial labour as for example, carrying burdens (kāruka²¹⁵ or śumai);²¹⁶ forced labour was demanded for providing wood for the camps of the king. Such service was also called veṭṭi, muṭṭi, vēgāri,²¹⁷ veṭṭimuṭṭaiyāḷ,²¹⁸ and āḷtēvai.²¹⁹ A tax was levied on persons from whom free compulsory labour for the repair of forts and the carriage of stores to them could not be demanded, and it was called koṭṭage.²²⁰ A valuable inscription at Tirucceṅkāṭṭāṅguḍi in the Tanjore district shows to what extent the state depended on this free labour (veṭṭivari) from the people. The inscription records the gift to a temple of about 40 to 45 different taxes which appear to have been generally collected by the palace at that period. While a large number of such taxes were gifted away to the temple, the veṭṭi-vari alone was retained by the king.²²¹