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NOVEMBER, 1895.)
EARLY SOVEREIGNS OF TRAVANCORE.
309
after a consultation having been duly keld among the loyal chieftains of Sri-Vira-Iravi-Keralavarna Tiruvadi, graciously ruling Vêņåd, the members of the salhi (or assembly of Kódainallur, and the people of that village, as well as Kandan Tiruvikraman of Marugatachcheri, entrusted with the right of realizing the government dues. Agreeably to the understanding arrived at in this consultation, we command and direct that the tax dne from government lauds be taken as amounting in paddy to * * * # and 24, in araklu/ crop, and 723 * and 24, in chiral crop, and making up per year a total of * * * - ; and the same, due from tnx-paying village84 lands, be taken as amounting in paddy to * *
and 24 in ralıkal crop; and 728 * and 24, in charal crop, and making up per year, a total of * * 709 ? ; and that when the due quantity is measurel out, a receipt be granted, discharging the liability, the fact being duly marked also in the rent roll; and we command moreover that the order of permanent lease (now in force) be surrendered into the hands of the clerks who write or issue such deeds . * * *.95 From the Tuvami (or Svâmi), too, no more shall any lease be taken. When part of the tax is paid, and part is still due, a list shall be prepared shewing the arrenrs for the whole year; and an anchali96 (or authorization) taken in writing to realize the same from the sabhi and the inhabitants; and the arrears then recovered accordingly. In seasons of drought and consequent failure of crops, the members of the sabhi and the people of the village shall inspect the lands, and ascertain which have failed and which have not. The lands that have failed, shall be assessed at one fifth of the normal dues, but this one fifth shall be levied as an additional charge on the remaining lands bearing a crop. If all the taxable lands appear to have equally failed, the sab há and the villagers shall report the matter to the Tuvami, and after the Tavimi has inspected the lands and ascertained the fact, one fifth of the entire dues) shall be levied. This ope-fifth shall be taken to include pat!a-vritti and ina-chelavu, amounting in paddy to. If the members of the sabha and the inhabitants agree among themselves, and pray in common for a postponement of the payment, as the only course open to a majority among them, this demand (one fifth drought rate) shall be apportioned over all the lands paying tax to government to be levied in the subsequent harvest), but without interest and pallari, the rent roll of the current year being scored out. Shonld anything whatever be done contrary to these rules, the deviation shall be visited with fine, . . * and the strict procedure again adopted. This our regulation shall continue in force as long as the moon and the stars endure. This is a true stone-inscribed copy of the royal writ."
Such is the substance of this remarkable document, as far as I can make it ont. Containing, as it does, several obsolete revenue terms, I cannot vouch for the literal accuracy of every word in my rendering. One or two expressions still remain obstinate and obscure. Nevertheless, I feel sure I cannot be far wrong with the bulk of my interpretations. Nor can there be any doubt as to the unique importance of the record. Unlike the inscriptions hitherto noticed, this one grants, not a perpetual lamp or a mountain-like' drum to the gods above, but peace and protection to toiling humanity here below. One of the most momentons questions in all human communities has been, and will always be, the price each individual in it has to pay for the advantages of organized social life. In proportion to the fixity and definiteness characterizing this price, in all its aspects, is the government of the community said to be civilized, stable, and constitutional. An important item in the price to be thus paid is the pecuniary contribution given by each individual for the maintenance of the state. In all agricultural countries, the bulk of the contribution must assume the form of land tax. In Travancore, then, which is little else than agricultural, where in fact there is no individual but has his taravád, his plot of land, - the plot in which he is born, in which he lives
es Arakkal and chloral seem to have been the crops of those days; now they are called kanni and kumbham. 84 Obviously then there were lands that paid no tax to government.
35 There are about 5 or 6 words here which carry no meaning to my mind. So also after the word 'fine' about the end of the deed.
* I take this word conjecturally to mean some kind of aathorization.
