Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 79

APRIL, 1916]
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
71
ried from Cape Comerin to the Pamban, were naturally a lucrative source of revenue. The eonch shells also which were abundant in the coast were held as the royal monopoly; and as they were highly valued in Bengal and elsewhere for ornamental purposes, they were largely exported, the Karta gaining high profits out of the transaction. It is difficult to estimate the real amount which these taxes brought to the treasury, but Nelson roughly estimates it at a little more than one-eighth of the land revenue and one-ninth of the total income of the State,-at about £131,000. It is a plausible conclusion, when we remember that the taxes, other than agricultural, which the people had to pay, were more numerous than lucrative, and thus erred against a fundamental canon of taxation.
The smallness of Naik expenditure when compared with the income.--Its causes.
Passing on to the department of expenditure, we have first to note, with Nelson, that it was very small when compared with the income. The reasons for this were manifold. First the Naik military expenditure was highly economical. There was indeed a standling army at his disposal, and there was also, throughout the kingdom, n chain of castles and fortresses, a number of military stations which had to be garrisoned with men, horses and elephants; but the standing army was small as thera was no necessity, on account of the military obligations of the provincial rulers, Polygars and razsal chiofs, for the maintenance of a large army in the capital ; and inexpensive, because the army consisted not of professional soldiers, but of agriculturists who had to give up the plough in favour of the sword in time of war; and who were paid not in money but in lands, which were probably exempt from taxation-an arrangement always economical to the State. When emergencies arose the Dalavậi used to issue orders to the rulors of provinces and Polygars to gather an army. These communicated the mandate to the headmon of villages and towns, and almost every able-bodied man was enlisted for service. In this way an adequate but inexpensive army was mobilized at a short notice. Another cause of the inexpensive nature of the military department was the absence of a navy in the Naik kingdom. It is true that the Vijayanagar emperors and their governors had the title of Lords of the Threr Oceans, and it is true that the necessity to defend an extensive coast and frequent engagements with Ceylon, seem to favour the idea of the maintenance of a navy; but no definite statement to that effect is found anywhere. The want of a navy seems to hare been a real weakness, and mainly responsible for the growing ascendancy of the European nations which were taking, at this time, a new interest in India and Indian affairs.
There were other circumstances which contributed to the great disproportion between revenue and expenditure. The administrative system was, as has been already said, in one sense very primitive and too ill-organized to be expensive There was, as Nelson says, no paid civil service, no educational policy, no police organization, no judicial machi. nery of an elaborate nature. The royal treasury, in other words, had no necessity t. spend much in the way of salaries to officials. There was in fact no salaried hierarchy officials as in the present day. Each departmental head, cach provincial chief, cach per son in authority appointed his own men and was thus individually responsible for the conduct of affairs; and the men so appointed were in a large number of cases paid in lands and not money. Educational policy was similarly conspicuous by its absence.
1 The Madura Country.
See Buchanan, II. p. 37 for a description of the relation between the Polycars and the ordinary Boldiers.