HISTORY OF TIRUPATI

ENDOWMENTS AND GIFTS
CHAPTER III
Taxes

Our inscriptions give us very meagre information about the system of taxation adopted by the old Pallava, Chola and Pandya Kings and their feudatories. Information contained in books like "The Pandya Kingdom" by Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, "The Pallavas of Kanchi" by Sri K. Gopalan, M.A., and "Studies in Chola History and Administration" by Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, is also of the same nature. Some of the grants of villages and lands mention immunity from payment of certain taxes, dues and gifts to the King. But there must have been other taxexs also, taxes unconnected with land and agriculture. No reference has yet been discovered of the imposition of export and import duties, or succession duty or duty on sales and mortgages etc. Nor is there anything to show the nature and incidence of the taxes and how they affected those who were taxed. What could be gathered from our inscriptions is put together in this chapter.

Pallava Period (upto 900 A.D.): There are only two inscriptions in which there is any reference to taxes. In the first of these I-4 there is reference to collections made in gold by an officer called Bayyan-Kol and in the second I-7 a reference to taxes of whatever kind derived by the village administration of Trichichokinuru. Both the inscriptions seem to have been made when the Pallava Rule had practically ended about 900 A.D. From other sources however we come to know that from very early days people had to pay to the king not only taxes in species and in grains but also free service and free supplies on occasions. The free supply of sweet and sour milk and sugar, payment in the shape of oxen, the free supply of grass and wood and also of vegetables and fruits are mentioned. In fact eighteen kinds of dues (Ashtadasa pariharas) were payable to the King. The Mayidavolu plates of Sivaskandavarma are said to make reference to dues payable on the mining of salt, the supply of bullocks in succession, the supply of boiled rice, etc. The inscriptions of grants made during the period of the later kings (Parames-wara Varma, Nandi-varma, Pallavamalla and his grandson Nandivarma III) make reference to duties on oil mill-owners, pattars, goldsmiths, toddy drawers, on arecanut exposed for sale, on looms and also to presents on the occasion of new marriages. The Tandatottam plates dated the fifty eighth year of Nandivarman Pallavamalla state the following immunities - no tax of any kind such as duty on oil presses and looms, ulaviyarkuli, the fee on marriages, Urettu fee on patters, Kattukayam duty on toddy drawers and shepherds, fee on stalls, brokerage fee, tirumukakkanam royalty paid for the manufacture of salt, the good cow, the good bull Vattinal fee on basket of grain exposed for sale in the market, arecanuts exposed for sale in shops and Budanali.

Chola period (900 to 1200 A.D.): From an inscription of the year 1073 A.D. in the third year of the reign of Veera Rajendra Chola Dewar, it is seen that one of his officers named Naranadeva secured in favour of the Temple of Tippata Disvara Madaya of Trichchukanuru wattikkasu, Tirukukkasu and all other dues to the ruler. An inscription of the year 1222 A.D. in the seventh year of the reign of Raja Raja III, mentions a few more taxes with a new nomenclature. These are Kadamai-ayam, porkadamai, Vettisarikai. Kolvari and all other Silvaris. The nature of these taxes cannot be definitely ascertained. Kadamaiayam may refer to obligatory payments made in grain, Porkadamai to payments to supply of good cows, good bulls, Vettiserikai to payments made to meet the salary of village servants, watchmen, etc. and Silvari may refer to sundry taxes.

Pandya period (1230 - 1350) An inscription of the twelfth year of the reign of Sundara Pandya Devar shows that more of these taxes were secured for the Temple of Trivengadam. These are Pattippon, Ponvari, Kudiraivari, Kanikkaikell (Gifts or presents), Nattuvari (tax imposed by the Assembly of the Nadu), Nallerudu (good bull), Narpasu (the good cow), Mavadai (dead trees), Maravadai (good timber trees); Kadamai and other gold and grain taxes. The giving of presents to the king on certain occasions, the free supply of bulls and cows by (perhaps) the pastoral people who made the breeding and sale of oxen as their vocation and a tax on horses bred for sale seem to have been in vogue from the early Pallava period. These taxes and some more seem to have been in vogue all over the Pandya country also. These as mentioned in "The Pandya Kingdom" page 217 are Kadamai, Anatarayam, Viniyogam, Achchuvari, Kariyavarachchi, Vettipattam, Panjupillai Sandivi-grahapperu, Vasalperu, Ilancinsipperu Uludankudi, Padikkavali, Ponvari, Tarivari, Sekkirai, Tattarappatam, Inavari, Idaivari etc. These taxes are also mentioned in an earlier inscription of our temple of the year 1209 A.D. in a grant made by Tirukkalatti-devayadavaraya to the Tiruvenkatam Temple.

In two inscriptions about a century later, both during the Pandya Rule, a feudatory by name Tiruvenkata-nathayadavaraya (8th and 12th year respectively of his reign) the number of taxes which are mentioned far exceed those current in the previous century. The old Ponvari became only one item of a class of taxes called Ponvargam. The old term Kadamai-ayam took the more comprehensive name Dhanyavargam inclusive of Kadamaiayam. We thus see that Kadamai and ayam were payable in the shape of grains. The old Kanikka (Gifts and presents) continued to be in force. Mavadai, Maravad, Nattuvari Kudiraivari also continued. Phalavari may refer to the old Pallava custom of taxing flowers, fruits and all garden produce including vegetables.

Pattivari or tax on raw cotton appears as a new item. Vendukolvari is another new item and represents a fee payable for presenting a request or petition. Under the heading Kanikkai or presents, a numbner of new ones are noticed. These are Nelakkanikkai, Nattarvaittakanikkai, Valinadaikkanikkai, Nattarmadiyital - Vakukkum kanikkai, Tiruttayar-Kanikkai, Tirumarukanur Kanikkai, Akkan Kanikkai, Karttikaikkanikkai. We see from all this that gifts had to be made to the king's mother, sons, sons-in-law and sister and for the celebration of the Kartiga feast. Whether the last named was meant to be sent to the King or was meant for the celebration of the Kartigai feast in the village itself is not clear from the wording. Gifts had to be made to the land-lord, the Nattar and also for purposes determined by the Nattar. This right of determining the purposes for which gifts should be made was possessed by the nattar even in the Chola period. For instance during the reign of Raja Raja Devar the Nattar (elected members) I-40 1234 A.D. of the Kudavur nadu met in full assembly in Tiruchchukanur Temple and resolved that for every patti of cultivated land in the villages of the nadu a contribution or gift of 5 tumbu of paddy should be made annually for the maintenance of the newly consecrated shrine of Tirumanga Alwar in Sri Govindaraja's temple and that the collection should be made by the managers of the Tirumala temple. This system continued to function during the Pandya period and later during the early Vijayanagar rule. From two inscriptions I. 200, 201 of 1433 A.D. it is seen that in addition to handing over to the 24 Mahajanams (who were by an agreement or muri employed for (reciting) Vedaparayanam daily in the Tirumalai Temple) the half share or Melvaram of produce due to the temple, the residents of the Tiruvidaiyattam villages of Tirukkudavur nadu and Vaikunda-Valanadu and some other villages solemnly agreed to contribute 200 panams every year as additional remuneration. The deed on store was attested by the Periyanattur Velan as representing the residents of the villages in the two Nadus and by the proper representatives of the other villages. The Nattars' authority and powers seem to have been maintained and respected even in the early decades of the fifteenth century A.D. There were not only the Nattars but also a Periyanattu velan as their chief. Viruttuvagai Palatalikku Madayil Kollumvari is another tax mentioned in the inscription of 1328 A.D. The Tamil word Tali means a temple and also a place. The tax may therefore connote contributions made to many temples or places of worship as decided by the assembly. There is also the phrase. Kovitravapperu-Palatalaikku - Tali nattu Vari-which would mean Naatthuvari levied in different places for the benefit of temple worship. Pandivari was a tax levied for the benefit of the Pandya King. Another tax for the maintenance of the Ballala troops stationed to give military assistance to the Yadavaraya Ruler for defence purposes was called Ballala Devar Vari. Valinadai Vari was another tax or cess paid for the maintenance of cart tracks and foot paths.

Taxes on occupation and trades

Perkadamai Vari was a tax on the members of the community of Settikal, Vanikar, Senaiyangadiyar and Koyilangadiyar who were probably all engaged in oil pressing and oil trade. It seems to have been a tax paid per head. Further there was a tax on each oil press (or Ghani). In addition to the tax there was Sunkam also to be given in the shape of a quantity of the oil. Tax on cloth manufacture extended to a tax on the making of reeds and healds or achchukkattu besides the tax on the onthum of cloth woven on the achchuttari, Seniyattari, Kaikkalartari, and Paraithari, each of which was devoted to the weaving of special patterns of cloth; Vettippul vari was a tax on grass cut and removed from waste lands and forests. Iruppukkattivari was a tax on royalty paid for the extraction of iron ore and the smelting of iron.

Vasalpanam and Talaippanam were taxes similar to house tax and poll tax. Amanjivari means contribution in the shape of labour for which no payment was made. This was essential for work connected with the preservation of forests against fire, the ravages of wild animals etc. Amanji Tachchuthulam. Perhaps connotes a fee levied for the use of licensed weighing scale-pan with a graduated wooden rod showing different weights. We are familiar with these weighing scales which need no metallic weights. The wooden rod from one end of which the scale pan hangs has grooves cut at one end showing 5 palams, 10 palams etc. The fulcrum is altered by moving the string or rope held in the hand and the weight of the substance weighed is ascertained. The term may also refer to the practice of the village carpenter being obliged to do free labour for keeping the picottah apparatus in working order.

Taxes on marriage

It is interesting to learn that a valid marriage was the result of three distinct stages. The first stage is the Mukkampaarvai, when the party in search of a bride first sees the girl in her house with the permission of the nattar or Sabhaiyar. The second stage is the Mukkamparvai Sammatham or open announcement of approval of the girl seen. The third stage is the Sambandachchammadam or agreement to contract the marriage. These three stages are in vogue even to this day. The last one is called Nichayatartham which connotes not only that the agreement or certainty of marriage is arrived at, but that some artham or valuable presents are also given on the occasion. It is however probable that in those early days when child marriages were more frequent, the state recognised the need for taking measures to regulate the validity of a marriage in the interests of the legal right of the offspring of such a marriage to inheritance. The fee paid to the king at each of the three stages served as evidence of a real marriage. Kidnapping minor girls and giving them away in marriage in distant places would have been occurring even as we find in these days. There are so many other ways in which man and woman live together without a properly contracted marriage.

There is an omnibus clause in the inscription which says that any defunct old tax and all such new taxes as may be ordered to be levied by the King by issue of a writ from his palace have to be paid.

Thus we find that at the end of the thirteenth century and during the early period of the fourteenth century A.D. there were several taxes to be paid in cash as well as in the shape of grains, pulses, etc. There were also taxes or dues to be paid by people engaged in professions other than agriculture. Artisans had to pay taxes in cash and also in the shape of free labour on some occasions. Minerals were taxed. There was house tax and even poll tax. There was tax on marriages at three stages. There was also a system of making voluntary contributions or gifts to the king and the members of his household on certain occasions. These gifts were called Kanikkai. This Kanikkai was also due to the Nattar of the assembly of the Nadu and also to the presiding deity of the local temple. The first impression which the long list of payments to be made by the villagers would create is that there was overtaxation and that the people were oppressed in those days. Mr. Longhurst's comments on the Ashtadasa-parihaaras (eighteen kinds of dues or taxes) which the Pallava kings laid claim to in the third century A.D. that "the people were liable to all these taxes and imports on the ordinary necessaries of life" has a large element of truth in it. Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, in his book "The Pandya Kingdom" (pp. 219, 220) gives instances of oppressive taxation. "Two inscriptions of Maravarma Sundara Pandya of the first half of the thirteenth century A.D. from the Ramnad district seem to contain more direct evidence of heavy and oppressive taxation; one of them states that the people of two villages were very much impoverished by the taxes they had to pay and began to feel that "the life in the woods would be preferable"; and the other records that owing to "the inability of the people to pay the revenue according to the old rates obtaining from the fifth year of the King, the standard of land measure was altered, a rather curious method as it strikes us of lightening the burden." Another record dated the seventh year of the reign of Maravarma Kulasekhara (1268 A.D.) states that the revenue expected for the sixth and the seventh years from the village of Uttara Marudur failed completely as there were no people to cultivate the fields. But in Tondamandalam there seems to be no instance on record to show that the people felt keenly the burden of taxation. This may be because greater consideration was given in its actual operation. We may just stretch our imagination and see how taxes would have worked in those days. Ponvargam (including Ponvari) and Dhanyavargam were of the nature of fixed obligatory taxes. In famine times remission would have been given as relief to the cultivator. All Amanjivari, whether free labour of the artisan to keep the Picottah in good repairs, or unskilled labour in woods and hills to prevent forest fires or to control the ravages done by wild beasts and pests, were for the common benefit of the community and would have had the sanction of the village assembly. Those engaged in other occupations than agriculture were asked to bear their legitimate and reasonable share in paying taxes. It is however possible that the rate of taxation was altered from time to time to the detriment of the people. There is no evidence of any such alteration having been made in Tondaimandalam. Kanikkai was never a rated tax. It was always, as the name indicates, a voluntary offering made by the people to the king or to the Nattar for some laudable purpose. Some of these continue to this day and serve as examples of the customs and usages which the culture of the people came to regard as good manners. On certain occasions such as the attainakshatram (annual birth asterism) of the king, or his mother the Queen Dowager etc. it was to be expected that from every village, presents would be sent to the king; and a Kanikkai would have been paid by every householder worth his salt. For in those days there was greater personal contact between the ruler and his subjects. To the Deity of the local Temple a Kanika would have been made on the occasion of a marriage of for the celebration of the Brahmotsavam and so on. We see that such customs and usages are adhered to cheerfully even now. As an illustration we will consider a marriage occasion in our days. After the usual ritualistic portion of the function is completed, there is what is called Sambhavana (or presents). The first sambhavana is offered to the Deity traditionally believed to preside over the locality. The whole congregation (or Sadas) will remain standing when this is offered to the accompaniment of certain Vedic hymns and slokas and it will be received by the manager of the angavastram. This sambhavana will include a certain amount of cash consistent with the financial status of the marriage party. The next sambhavana would in the customary guruparampara order be made to the founder of the religious seat to which the party belongs and would be received by the person competent to represent the founder. It should be expected that during the centuries when the country was ruled by its own beloved line of kings, a sambhavana would have been offered to the king who is always regarded as the amsa of Sri Vishnu. This Sambhavana would have been received by the local representative of the king and in course of time would have become one of the perquisities of his office. The Chief nattar also receives his sambhavana in the village. For instance, in connection with every marriage performed in Tiruchchanur (near Tirupati), the Yejamana-Dishata of the place receives by right the first Sambavana in congregation. It seems to have the sanction of an old court decree, usage having risen to the rank of legal right. So all the Kanikkas enumerated in the inscription would have had their beginnings in good manners which in course of time became obligatory usage or custom. They are being cheerfully gone through and in every case there is a cash present, be it one anna or half an anna, along with the betel leaves, betel nuts and coconut. It may be mentioned here that even the tambulam and dakshina given to the invited and the uninvited are offered in a dignified manner. It is collectively called the sadas sambhavana or presents to those congregated. The full quantity of betel leaves, betel nuts, cocounts, plantain fruits, sugar candy etc. are taken in hand by a number of persons engaged in the task and with appropriate Vedic hymns, slokas etc. and offered to the congregation. In the actual distribution there is observance of a certain recognised order of preference.

Again offering the first fruits from a garden, or a good cow or a good bull from one's own herd of cattle, is an act which the person would have done voluntarily and cheerfully. We all do such things to those whom we love or whom we respect. And who was more loved and respected than the King of the land.

So all the numerous taxes enumerated would have been paid without a demur and their imposition would have been worked with consideration. There is no evidence of any discontent among the people. For there are no proverbs or sayings handed down to us as evidence of cruel taxation.

The Vijayanagar Period 1360 A.D. - 1670 A.D.

It would have taken some time for the Vijayanagar rule to establish itself firmly in the matter of taxation and revenue. Sri Virapratapa Devaraya Maharaya II was the first Emperor to grant villages to the Tiruvengalanatha temple - three in number-in 1429 A.D.; but the inscription does not state anything about taxes. The grant was meant for offering daily certain food offerings and for the performance of a Brahmotsavam in the month of Asvija. It was not an unqualified Tiruvidayattam grant; at the same time he laid no claim to the one fourth share of the prasadams which the donor was entitled to according to the then recent usage. An inscription II-4 of the year 1456 A.D. mentions that with the revenue derived as Svarna-dayam and Dhanyavargam in the sarva-Manya village of Alipuram granted to the Temple of Tiruvengadamudaiyan by Saluva Narasimha, certain food offerings were to be made. There is no mention of the taxes which the word Sarvamanya carried with it as being immune from. What however is worth noting in that inscription is that the tax formerly called Ponvargam is therein called Svarnadayam. The term Dhanyavargam would as formerly have been used to include kadamai and ayam. In three inscriptions of the year 1475 A.D. II-53, 54 and 55, there is reference to the taxes called Kar, Kodai, Kadamai and Ponvari in connection with certain old bhatavritti inam lands purchased by the donor and endowed to the temple. Again in an inscription II-133 of the year 1495 A.D. which mentions a number of food offerings arranged for by Kandadai Ramanuja Iyengar from out of the revenue in the village of Narasingarayapuram, the following taxes are mentioned, Vasalvari, Tarikkadamai, Perkadamai and Ponvari from gardens in backyards, Sandi, Magamai Kuttaki and all other taxes derived from articles entering the town. It is therefore obvious that the taxes which were current in the fourteenth century A.D. continued to be levied throughout the fifteenth century also. None of Sri Veerapratapa Sri Veera Krishna deva Maharaya's grants of villages mentions any tax as having been made over to the temple along with the village. It was only the Raja Bhandaram share of the produce or income that was given to the temple. An inscription dated 2nd January 1517 A.D. however specifically mentions that Sri Krishna Deva Maharaya permitted the Sthanattar of the temple to collect 1000 varahas of gold from the Sunkam (tax) and also the taxes called Nityamula visannadu Talarikkam and Madarikkam amounting to 500 Varahas in the villages of Godagurnadu to meet the cost of performing weekly Pulikappu function and a daily morning sandhi offering in the temple. He granted on another occasion III-65, June 1513 three villages (Chatravadi, Karikambadu and Tururu) from the agricultural income of which the Tai Brahmotsavam and some other functions were to be performed for the spiritual benefit of his parents. But no tax was made over to the temple. Another inscription III-159 of 1524 A.D. mentions that the Peryam (Perhaps pilgrim tax) collected by the King during the Purattasi Brahmotsavam was to be made over to the Temple and also the produce from six villages (Tallapakkam, Piradam, Darathur, Mudiyur, Satrapade and Turyaur) and half the village of Kadaikkuttanpade for certain purposes in the temple. He claimed for himself one fourth share (donor's share) of the prasadams and utilised them in his own chatram and latterally in Sri Vyasatirtha Sripada Udaiyar matham. These villages cannot be classed as Tiruvidayatham grants. They are purely specific endowments of income from lands. Similarly his successor Achutaraya Maharayar granted in 1535 A.D. IV-54 a portion of the tax known as Uttarayam of 300 varahas from the villages of the Kondavidu Seema for celebrating the Lakshmidevi Mahotsavam. There are however three inscriptions of a latter date which go to show that the taxes which had their roots in the early centuries of the Pallava rule and which increased in numbers during the days of the Pandya Kings were at least retained by the Vijayanagar rulers. These inscriptions do not give us an exhaustive list of all the taxes prevalent then; nor do they give us any information as to the incidence of taxation and how they were felt by the people. The taxation was from the early centuries so modelled that every section of the population bore its share. One inscription V-133-1552 A.D. mentions such taxes as irrigation channel tax, tax on palmyra and date trees, taxes on land, festival mazamai tax, house tax in Tirumala, tax known as Palappallivritti house tax in Alwarmuda Peleyam Kilvari Selvari etc. The next one V 154-1554 A.D. is of greater value as it gives list of the tax collections which the Emperor Sada sivaraya Maharayar himself ordered to be handed over every year to the Managers of the Nammalvar Temple Ramanujakutam in Tirupati for its maintenance. These taxes are as given below. (1) The taxes levied on Navasaranyasa Vargam and Teppattu Sarakku supplied to the Nammalvar Ramanujakutam. The estimated income from the endowed property was given as so many puttis of paddy and the money value was given calculated at the then current price of paddy per putti. This varied from 4 panam to 6 panam per putti of 80 nalis. The market price of all articles to be purchased was also given (from the days of Sadasivaraya in particular) so that the Sthanattar may be careful in making purchase.

There are also instances in which the donor made it a condition of the endowment that the management of the property should vest hereditarily in them and their heirs and that they should annually remit to the temple the amount stipulated in the inscription as the annual income from the property.

Endowments of land and in cash came to a dead stop from the time the country came under the rule of the Golkonda Muslims and the Nawab of Arcot. The last endowment VI-23 was made in the year 1638 A.D. and the inscription is in the Tamil language and script. The trustees were the 12 Sthanattars as in the year 1390 A.D. The politically unsettled conditions of the country after 1638 A.D. brought about a great change in the administration of the Temple. In an inscription VI-24 of the year 1684 A.D. the Sthanattar are called Sthanalavaru in Telugu and the inscription records the endowment of a gold Kanthi in the Telugu language and script. The Sthanalavaru had gone down to four in number. The old set of Tamil people exceptiong the Jiyyangars and the archakas seem to have gone out of the temple and the language of the temple seems to have become gramya Telugu. Madanna and Akkanna were the most influential Brahmin brothers in the service of the Golkonda King. There was also peace between Golconda and Bijapur from about the middle of 1678. Akkanna stayed in Tirupati for seven days in 1681 on state business and to collect money in connection with his son's Thread wearing ceremony. He would have brought in Telugu speaking men into the temple management throwing out the old Sthanattar. Gradually the Maharashtras penetreted into these parts; and with the arrangements they made to have their Vakils in the Golconda and Vellore courts of the Nawabs to enable them to exercise vigilant and concurent supervision over the collection of revenues for purposes of realising the chanta amounts to which they were entitled under the terms of an agreement, the Maharashtra language and the Modi-script ousted the Telugu from the temple for purposes of correspondence and accounts. From about 1730 to 1840 A.D. this was the recognised language and all important records which were handed over to the Mahant between 1847 and 1860 seem to have been in Maharashtra. It is no wonder that under such unstable conditions, pilgrims did not make permanent endowments in cash or of lands.

The system of levying a fee (arjitam) for each item of worship was introduced as well as Varthana for accepting gifts of ornaments clothes etc. The old endowments of land seem to have become the property of the new kings and the old lessees were made proprietors for consideration paid to the king. The fact is that when the British Government handed over temple to the Mahant in 1847, no landed properties were transfered to him. Researches into the Maharashtra files in Modi script may disclose the real nature and the fate of these properties: While records were transported by bullock carts, it was (subsequently) reported that a large part was washed away in the floods of the Swarnamukhi river near Chandragiri. It may serve as a warning to those who endow landed properties to temples.

The face however remains that the ancient food offerings for which endowments were made by the pious kings and great men of yore should have gone into obscurity. Samavai's food offering remains intact for some reason or other. But the subsequent one deserves to be kept fresh before the mind of the pilgrims. These are the Sitakara gandam sandhi 1328 of one Tirupponakka instituted by the Hoysala Singayya Dannayaka, the (Yadava) Narayanan Sandhi of 1328 A.D. of one Tirupponakam instituted by Tiruvenkatanatha Yadavaraya; the Bukkaraya Sandhi of two Tiruppanakam instituted by Bukkaraya, the founder of the Vijayanagar Empire about 1360 A.D.; the 33 platefuls of harivana instituted by Sri Veerapratapa Devaraya Maharaya II in 1429; the thirty Tirupponakam in Tirumala (called Sandhimuppadu) in 1476 A.D. and the 26 platefuls in Tirupati instituted by Saluva Narasimha Raya; the twenty Tirupponakam instituted by Sri Krishnadeva Maharaya and his queen's (1520); Varadajiamma's twenty Tirupponakam instituted in 1535; the two hundred Tirupponakam daily instituted by Araviti Aliya Ramaraya in 1562 and the twelve Tirupponakam daily to Sri Venkateswara and to Sri Govindaraya instituted by the Travancore Maharaya (Tiruvadiraja) deserve to be remembered. This can best be done by the Devasthanam authorities instituting token Sandhi offerings bearing their names. If their endowments are lost it was due to no fault of theirs nor that of the Sthanattar of those days. The temple could well maintain a role of honour for those great men.