History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c18.s1.77

c18.s1.77

The word *pērāl*, here used in respect of the Ājīvika tax, recalls the phrases *Acuvikaḷ-pērār-kācu* and *Ācuvikan-per-k-kaṭamai*, in other inscriptions.⁶ It seems that in both these cases *pēr* or *per* must be read in the sense of a person or individual. This is the view taken by Saletore.⁷ An alternative suggestion,⁸ that *pērāl* means “in the name of” the Ājīvikas, does not seem probable. The contrast between *pērāl* and *vīṭṭāl* in the Āvaṇi inscription, and the use of the words *pēr* and *per* in the two other inscriptions mentioned, provide convincing evidence that the Ājīvika tax was, in these cases at least, a poll-tax, in contrast to the house-taxes paid by most other members of the village community. But even on the alternative interpretation of the Āvaṇi inscription, it seems that the Ājīvikas paid much heavier taxes than did other classes of the community. Probably they were considerably richer than the average peasant of the time, for the assembly of the *viṣaya* would hardly have imposed this oppressive tax if it had not considered its victims capable of paying it. The tax at Āvaṇi is a measure of the unpopularity of the Ājīvikas, and shows that they were under a disability which marked them as a class apart from the rest of the population.