How The Taxation System Worked Under The Cholas

Taxation is something that is frowned upon by almost everyone who is subject to it. It is not surprising that tax-related cases occupy one of the top spots in financial frauds.

However, this is not a new phenomenon; it has existed since ancient times. Apart from the quantum of tax, it is also the procedural aspects that make a tax-paying citizen complain about it always.

From the perspective of tax collectors, there is this issue of revenue sharing, which is one of the most talked-about issues these days. Hence, one would wonder if there exists a perfect tax system that makes everyone, both tax payers and collectors, happy.

In this context, it is worthwhile to study some of the earlier tax systems. While it is not prudent to compare the tax system of a monarchy to that of a modern democracy, it can still show some interesting insights from which the modern system can learn. 

The taxation system of the Cholas offers some really interesting pointers on how such a vast kingdom managed its revenue and economy during the days of less connectivity.

Started in a small area of the Kaveri delta, the Cholas expanded rapidly during the medieval period, ruling the major part of southern India during its peak. While this has made them to modify some of the processes, the core of the system has remained unchanged. 

Administrative Set-Up 

As with a typical monarchy, the king was the supreme authority in the administrative set-up of Cholas. However, this doesn’t mean that he enjoyed unlimited, authoritarian powers. He had been assisted by a very well-structured ministry and a team of officials who had made many of the decisions on behalf of the empire.

The kingdom was divided into a federal structure, namely Mandalam, Valanadu, Nadu, and Kootram, just like the states and districts of today’s setup. In the lowest tier of the hierarchy, village and nagara sabhas were present.

It must be worthwhile to note that the intermediate layers had administrative power, but not financial authority.

Apart from the centralised financial management of the country, much of the local financial system was managed independently by the sabhas. Revenue collection by means of various taxes and the management of expenses happened seamlessly through this setup. 

Land Tax

As it was predominantly an agrarian economy, the major chunk of the tax revenue during Chola times was from the tax levied on the sale of agricultural proceeds. This presupposes that the landholding details are accurately measured and documented.

So kings like Rajaraja, who ruled a far greater area, have instituted a committee to survey the land across the country and document the measures across all the villages and nagara sabhas.

We can see this activity getting repeated frequently as the land holding pattern kept changing and the boundaries of the kingdom expanded.

For every Mandala, there was a revenue board constituted to monitor the collection of the land tax. This was called ‘Puravu Vari Thinai Kalam’. The land tax was called by various names like ‘Kadamai’, 'Kanikadan', and ‘Irai’. 

The democratically elected village sabhas shared the biggest responsibility of collecting the taxes and remitting them to central authority through the Puravu Vari Thinai Kalam. In many sabhas, such as Uttiramerur, there is a separate Variyam (board) created to ensure that the tax is properly collected, which is named ‘Panchavara Variyam'.

The document, which had the details of how much tax was to be paid by each of the landowners in the village, was called ‘Vari Pothagam’. It also had details about tax-free lands, lands gifted to temples and monasteries, etc.

Whenever there was a change in the land holding pattern, that was recorded in Vari Pothagam. 'Vari Pothaga Nayagam' was the official in-charge of managing these documents. 

There was another document maintained at the village level that detailed how much land and other taxes had been collected, how much had been remitted to the government, and how much was yet to be remitted. That was called ‘Vari Pothaga Kanakku’. To ensure the accuracy of the records across various sabhas, two officials by the names ‘Muga Vetti’ and ‘Kizhmuga Vetti’ were appointed who maintained a catalogue of village-wise Vari Pothagam. 

The tax was collected both in kind and in cash (Ponnum Kasum). The percentage of tax was uniform across the country, and it was fixed at 1/6th of the proceeds. An inscription from Chola Singapuram, which belonged to Parantaka Chola I times, says “Aru Koorinal Puravu Maayathiyum Ponnum Perumaaru,” indicating that the tax due to the king is one sixth.

The cash was remitted directly to the central treasury. The paddy collected as tax is deposited in the warehouses managed by the government called ‘Oor Kalanjiyam'. 

Customs 

Given the increase in trade during the Chola times, the customs tax formed a sizeable portion of the tax revenue. The tax collected on the goods exported through ships to countries abroad and also on the goods imported was known as Sungam or Ulgu.

Even the goods transported through highways to other parts of the country were also taxed. It is worth noting that during the reign of Kulothunga Chola I, the king waived the customs tax and was hailed as ‘Sungam Thavirtha Cholan’. It is another interesting study to understand what prompted him to take this step and how he managed the revenue deficiency arising out of such a reformist step. 

Other Taxes 

There are many smaller taxes levied by the Chola regime.

A few of the taxes are: Nadatchi (for country management), Ooratchi (for sabha management), Vatti Nazhi (based on the time the cultivated land is irrigated), Idaippattam (collected from shepherds), Thari Irai (collected from handloom weavers), Thattar Paattam (collected from goldsmiths), Thee Eri (for doing homa), Virpidi (registration tax), Nallaa (for keeping cows), Nalleruthu (for keeping bulls), Nadu Kaaval (towards the nations security), Oorkaval (for local security,police), Oodupokku (if additional crops were cultivated along with the main crops), Ilaikkoolam (for cultivating greens), Neerkooli (water tax), Odakkooli (for keeping boats).

As before, all these taxes need to be collected by the Panchavara Variyam of sabhas and remitted to the central authorities. They can keep some specific local taxes, like Ooratchi or Oorkaval taxes, to themselves. 

Cess

For specific infrastructure work like the development of roads or building a canal, a tax known as Iravu Vari was collected. This is similar to the cess of today. Even during the war, such cess was collected.

When Vira Rajendra Chola went for a war against Chalukyas, he had collected “one kazhanju” per one veli of cultivated land, says an inscription in Alangudi.

It needs to be noted that these are short-term taxes and are not continued every year. 

Special Taxes

It can also be found that there were some special taxes levied from time to time in specific parts of the country. For performing poojas in one temple in Erode, it was decided that all the local citizens needed to pay a special tax, as per an inscription.

Similarly, people from Thalachangadu, near Thanjavur, collected 100 Kasus to provide grants to the temple. The sabha of Bahut decided that everyone should donate one goat to the temple during marriages, and anyone who defaults on this need to pay two goats.

In Thirukkannapuram, as revenues were dwindling, it was decided by the local sabha to collect ‘Poonul' tax on whoever was wearing a yajnopaveedam. Special taxes were also levied whenever there were natural calamities like floods. 

Tax Disputes

It is not difficult to understand that such a wider tax regime has its own share of disputes, especially in faraway places. Most of the disputes were resolved at the sabha level, but a few went all the way to the king. Such disputes and the decisions against the tax defaulters were recorded in the inscriptions.

In one such case, there was a long-drawn dispute between a few landholders and the village officials about the amount due to be paid. It went up to King Rajaraja, and finally it was found that the tax payment was defaulted for three years. The king directed the village authorities to sell the land in the possession of the defaulters and use the proceeds towards the tax amount due.

A record from Kalappal says that one person migrated to Pandya Desa without paying tax and died there. His land was sold, and the proceeds were used in lieu of the arrears due. 

There were instances where everyone from the entire village ran away, not being able to pay the taxes. In such cases, officials had no other option but to sell the land and collect the proceeds. This has also happened due to the highhandedness of the officials who levied taxes themselves and harassed people to pay them.

There is an inscription in Mannargudi that says that the villagers approached the sabha with a number of complaints about such harassment. The sabha officials assembled in a place, addressed the grievances of the villagers, and streamlined the taxation. In some cases, even the King had to personally intervene to regularise the tax collection.

It must also be noted that the harassment from the tax officials was also not taken kindly, and they were also punished severely for their highhandedness.

Use Of The Tax Revenue

While the majority of the tax collected was used for the upkeep of the kingdom and governance, what we can see from the Chola period inscription is that they functioned as a welfare state, spending a lot of money on developing the basic infrastructure and also on education and hospitals.

A number of highways were constructed during the Chola regime, which made transportation much easier. This has also enhanced the trading economy due to the free movement of goods.

Further, one of the major contributions during Chola times was developing irrigation facilities throughout Tamilagam. Areas as far as Kanyakumari were benefited by the number of ponds, lakes, and canals constructed during their time.

A number of educational institutions and Athura Salais (hospitals) came up during their time, as seen in many inscriptions. This perhaps helped in ensuring that the citizens were not very unhappy with the number of taxes they had to pay, as they were also seeing the benefits in terms of development.