Local Government in Ancient India c14.15

c14.15

There were again some remarkable examples of seamen’s guilds. One of these is referred to in the Moṭṭupalli record of the Kākatīya sovereign Gaṇapatideva-Mahārāja (no. 600 of 1909, *Madras Epigraphy*, 1909–10) who grants a charter of immunity (*abhayaśāsana*) to merchants trading in their vessels from the seaport of Moṭṭupalli with islands and coast towns in distant countries. The necessity for the charter was that kings of old used to confiscate by force all the cargo, gold, elephants, horses, precious stones, &c., of vessels *en route* from one country to another, which, driven by contrary winds, happened to be stranded and wrecked in the sands near Moṭṭupalli. ‘Seeing that the protection (of my subjects) is far more important (to me) than my life’, says Gaṇapati, ‘we have remitted out of compassion all (taxes) except *kūpaśulka* on these enterprising (merchants) trading on sea, in order to secure fame and to maintain the principles of a righteous government.’ The inscription gives the details of the *kūpaśulka* which were akin to the modern customhouse duties. They comprised fees on sandal-wood, country (?)-camphor, China-camphor, pearls, rose-water, ivory, civet (*javādu*), camphor-oil (*karpūrataila*), copper, zinc, *riseya* (resin ?), lead, silk-thread, corals, perfumes, pepper, and areca-nuts. This long list of cargo shipped by the merchant-men of the Moṭṭupalli seamen supports the glowing appreciation and description of Marco Polo of the trade at the port of Mutfili (identified with Moṭṭupalli), which he visited during the reign of the Kākatīya queen Rudramādevī, about the end of the thirteenth century A.D.