Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s9.10

c23.s9.10

The old legal works does not form the only evidence in favour of the antiquity of these dues. Some of them have been mentioned in old inscriptions as well. The Maratha Patils were entitled to a small tax in money on the occasion of each marriage and widow-re-marriage (Lagna-patti and Patdam) in the village. Reference is made to such a tax in a Kanarese inscription of Yadava Singhana Deva.³⁶ "And whenever those same Ugura three hundred and the five hundred and four," so runs the inscription, "asked with importunity they gave one coin such as is given on marriage occasions." The same inscription mentions an impost of betel-leaves on betel-leaf sellers and a measure of oil on each oil mill. "Harikekuli and the contribution on the profits," we read in this interesting document, "was the impost of betel-leaves levied on the road; and there was allotted to the same god one *visa* on each load of a beast of burden of betel leaves. Two *solasages* of oil were given on each oil mill to provide for the ceremony of averting the effects of the evil eye, which was held on Mondays at the Singvatti of that locality. And one oil mill was set apart for the god. Sixty cultivators gave a *kandage* of dried fruits, grains, etc. And the reapers of the betel plants will give (a contribution). The ministers of the king shall recognize these imposts. And the sellers of betel leaves and areca-nuts inside the village will give (a contribution) when they realize in cash the price that they obtain." This grant was made by Danda-nayaka Purushottama, an officer of the Yadava king, Singhana Deva, to a temple at Munoli in the Belgaum district, and the date of the inscription is 1145 of the Shaka era. This clearly shows how these imposts were common in Southern India in the 13th century of the Christian era.