History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c18.s1.74

c18.s1.74

This tax is referred to as *kara*, *kācu*, *kaṭamai*, *avalampalam*, and *tari-irai*. The Āvaṇi inscription ⁴ indicates that the term *Ācuvi-kācu* was, at least sometimes, taken in its literal sense, as the gold coin of that name, weighing about 28 grains.⁵ The same inscription points to the fact that the *Ācuvi-kācu* was a poll-tax. The Ājīvika community paid it “per person” (*pērāl*), while the quarter *kācu* levied in respect of the minor tolls upon the rest of the village community was paid “per house” (*vīṭṭāl*). From this we infer that the Ājīvika household might pay as much as twenty or thirty times the tax of the orthodox; and the tax was doubled if payment fell into arrears.