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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[OCTOBER, 1911.
Chola kings of the 11th century took about half the produce and Mr. Ellis when be more cautiously, and in all probability correctly, estimates that the tax was always more than the sixth or fourth, permitted by the Sanskrit lawyers. Over and above this proportion of land tax there were, as already stated, the extra taxes. Those forming the internal revenue were commuted during the reign of Virarajendra (1063-1070) to 1/10th of the gross produce paid in cash. Thus the total demand on land was, when the land tax was at 1/6th of the gross produce, 4/15th of the gross produce (1/6+1/10 4/15). If the land tax, however, was at 1/3-moderating the figures of Burnell to that of Ellis--then it would be about 13/30ths (1/3+1/10=13/30) excluding, in both the cases, the cost of cultivation. According to the latest calculations, 10 the share now taken by the British in the Madras Presidency is well below 10 %, including all cesses and charges for water; or exclusive of all charges for water the proportion falls to about 6 % or about 1/27th, and eren this includes a couple of cesses. It would appear from this that the land taxation of the ancient Chola kings was over four times, if they took 4/15ths, and over 7 times if they took 13/30ths, heavier than the British taxation at the present day. Taking into account the purchasing power of gold, it would have been much greater. Unfortunately, there are no materials for forming a correct opinion of its purchasing power in these ancient days. The value of the Chola gold coins-Southern India baring not much silver currency until the advent of Muhammadans13_is not known. Perhaps a rough approximation may be reached in this way. During the days of Rajaraja (985-1015) a krásu passed for its weight in gold and was worth 2 kalams of paddy," though it exchanged in the days of Virarajendra, fifty years later, for about 4 kulams.15 In Rajaraja's time, therefore, a kasu must have been worth about Rs. 2/- in modern currency, valuing a kalam of paddy on the average at Re. 1/. It is stated in another inscription that two krásus bought in the days of the same king 2 buffaloes, 2 cows, and 6 sheep. At the present day at the very least all these jointly would be worth about Rs. 407. It would appear from this that half a kdeu, or a rupee in modern currency, would in those days have bought ten times what it would buy now. That a kdsu may be worth about Rs. 2) may be inferred in another way. The rate of interest in Rajaraja's time is specifically stated to be 12 per cent.16 During the time of Rajendra, his son, 1/8th klisu is stated in a nusaber of inscriptions to be the interest for a kásu.17 At two rupees a kdeu, this comes to 12 per cent.; so that the rate of interest had not in his reign risen above what it was during his father's reign, which is natural seeing that he immediately succeeded bitn.18
Payment in kind-an economic fallsey, It might he imagined that a possible palliative to this high rate of assessment was that it was paid either in kind, gold, or both.19 This, however, involves an economic fallacy that is always forgotten but is easily laid bare. A little reflection shows that paying in kind could not have in
Burnell's Sonti Indian Palmography, 2nd Ed., p. 119.
South Indian I. III. I. 117. The internal revenues were, according to an inscription of that.king, collected at the rate of 25 k2u por 1,000 kalam of paddy. A kisu, according to inscriptions of the time, bought 4 kaime of paddy Thus, for every thonaand kulaws, the Government collection was one hundred kalams, ..., 1/10th which was paid in cash.
10 Land Revenue l'olioy of the Indian Gorernment, paras, 69 to 71.
11 The Famine Commissioners of 1890, who were the only body who had the evidence of all India before them, estimate the land tax on the average throughout British India "at from 3 p. o, to 7 p. o. of the gross out-turn." See also Indian Famine Commission Report, 1901, paras. 260-67, for the latest figures in respect to certain parts of India.
19 Land Revenue Policy of the Government, para, 68. 18 Sir Walter Elliot's Coins of Southern India, p. 57. 10 South Ind. Inus. II. 68.
16 lbid. III. 117.
16 Ibid II. 1. 68.
17 Ibid. 95. 18 If a priori reasoning is permissible in a matter like this, it may be instructive to note here that rice solls at a price which is about six times what it sold sixty years ago.
19 South Ind. Inw. II.i. 42, 53, et seq.
