365bet娱乐

The main source of the income of the State was land-revenue supplemented with that of state-land customs like tolls on bridges³ and frontier-posts, fines confiscations and usurpations of agrahara lands and villages and various other devices employed by the rulers and the bureaucracy from time to time. It is to be regretted that the Chronicle does not provide us with any definite information regarding the rates of taxation either on land-produce or on other taxable commodities. It has been suggested that the share of the government, in normal times, 'was one-sixth of the agricultural produce and was subsequently raised to one-half 18 We, however, would point out that the attitude of the kings of the Valley in this direction is well reflected in the II, p. 427. Ibid I v, 170. Ibid., II, viii, 136. Ibid., II, viii, 1991. 1. R.T 2. 3. 4. Ibid 5. Ibid I, v, 172. 6. Ibid., I, vi, 41. 7. 8. Ibid. Ibid., v, 170; vii, 1090. Bamzai, P.N.K., Hist. of Kashmir, p. 203.

-528 policy-enunciation of Lalitaditya according to whom "every care should be taken that there should not be left with the villagers more food supply than required for one year's consumption....."l If Kalhana incessantly harps upon the tyrannical devices of exactions of the kings, he had every ground for it as there are instances of rulers appropriating the entire produce of the fields not only for one but three consecutive years from the cultivators and taxing them to the extreme? Also, the villagers were forced to submit to us, as many as thirteen kinds of 'fiscal exortions 13 inclusive of the 'system of forced carriage of loads' during the reign of Sankaravarman, as has already been noticed earlier. The land-revenue was generally realised in kind and no attempt seems to have been made by the rulers of the Valley to set a proper pattern of land revenue settlement beyond the maintenance of records through the agency of gramakayasthas, whose duties and functions we have noted above. Apart from the revenues from the land-tax, there was considerable income to the royal exchequer 1. R.T Rajatarangini by Kalhana, 2. Ibid 3. Ibid 4. Ibid I, iv, 337. I, iv, 628; v, 165. I, v, 174 n. I, iv, 347.

529 from land under state cultivation which seems to have increased in area by arbitrary confiscations of agraharas 'taken under direct fiscal management' by the State? The agraharas, when taken over by the State were assigned nominal compensation (pratikara) for their maintenance? We have noted above the various officers (particularly the nayakas) and offices through which the State realised its dues from the markets and trade in general. It is interesting to note that, at times, the weights and measures were also reduced in order to enhance the income from the markets on There cereals and woollen goods? The Chronicle is a pitiful account of the various means devised by the rulers of the Valley to tax its inhabitants. were taxes on town and city-dwellers, artificers, 4 and shops; family ceremonies 5 like marriages, yajnopavita (sacred thread), etc., were also taxed besides those levied on immorality, prostitutes and a 1. Rajatarangini by Kalhana, I, v, 176 n., Also II, viii, 2226, where confiscation of even pasture lands is hinted at. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 禄, 1, v, 171. 4. Ibid I, iv, 629. 5. Ibid ,, II, viii, 1428. The term mangalyadanda seems to indicate taxes on all ceremonies of an auspicious nature connected with the Hindu way of life. Ibid., II, viii, 3336. Damodargupta, Kuttanimatam, verse 400. 6. 7. 8. Rajatarangini by Kalhana, I, vii, 1107.

530 even on night-soil! Attrocities in exactions sometimes reached such extremes 2 that spirited persons tried to take the law into their own hands and even went to the extent of making an attempt at the life of such a responsible officer as the minister and these holding the padagra office? A few attempts were made from time to time to purge the administration of greedy officials, but these proved of little avail. It was only during the reign of Jayasimha that Kularaja, the city-prefect, was in a position to do away with many 'abuses which had been rife in the land for a long time and promote the welfare of the people. The realisations from these various sources went 8 to the three main departments of ganja, attapatibhaga? and grihakritya and their numerous branches referred to above. But it appears that there was an utter the lack of ways and means to see that entire realisation L from the different sources reached the treasury office. During the reign of Jayapida, the Kayasthas or officials responsible for revenue collections delivered to the royal treasury 'only the smallest fraction of 1. R.T I, vii, 1107. 2. Ibid., II, viii, 2229. 3. Ibid , II, 2233.41. 4. Ibid I, 1, 118-20%;B iv, 53%; II, viii, 85-97. 5. Ibid., II, viii, 3334-37. 6. Ibid., I, iv, 589. 7. Ibid I, v, 167. 8. Ibid I, v, 167, 176%3 B vii, 42.

531 what they had realised' from the people! Such corruption was not confined to the lower ranks alone, for we hear of city-prefects (nagaradhikritas) lining their own pockets instead of depositing the entire proceeds of their collection? That bribery and corruption were quite rampant from the lowest rank in administration is apparent from the fact that gramakayasthas tried to oust each other 'by offering greater and greater bribes' to their superior officers, obviously to be given charge of more remunerative and prosperous villages in the State? Very often the officials themselves instigated and encouraged the rulers to levy fresh taxes as these offered them opportunities to live their own chests as well? It is interesting to note that a system of annual or daily allowances (pratyahavetana) to persons of the royal family was also prevalent in the Valleyb Yet, in defence of these vexatious and pernicious taxes and the system of revenue realisation, it may be said that the Valley suffered from certain limitations imposed by nature itself. The country 1. Rajatarangini by Kalhana, I, iv, 629. 2. Ibid., I, vi, 70. 3. Ibid. I, v, 265. 4. Ibid. ., I, iv, 621-23. 5. Ibid I, vii, 490-92.

532 was land-locked and had to depend on outside trade for even its commonest daily necessities like the salt, spices and cotton goods from the sub-continent of India At the same time, it had to support a growing population, a bureaucracy which grew steadily in number through the centuries and also meet the extravagances of its royalty. It is true that the rulers of the country were greedy extortionists, generally impervious to the hardships of the peasantry, yet some of them were also responsible for considerable artistic activities and creation of magnificient monuments and architectural masterpieces which, however, fall beyond the scope of our present treatment. 1. Rajatarangini by Kalhana, I, vii, 1221.