UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 34 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2016 question on Vijayanagara Taxation
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2016
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectMedieval History
- TopicVijayanagara Empire
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
Regarding the taxation system of Krishna Deva, the ruler of Vijayanagar, consider the following statements:
1. The tax rate on land was fixed depending on the quality of the land.
2. Private owners of workshops paid an industries tax.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: C. Both 1 and 2
Verdict
The answer is both 1 and 2. Vijayanagara land tax varied with the quality of land and workshop owners paid an industries tax.
Analysis
Statement 1 is CORRECT. The empire classified villages and lands into several categories for taxation, including brahmadeya, devadana, mathapura, sarvamanya, kodagi, rakta kodagal and guttagi lands and the remainder, and rates were fixed according to the nature and quality of the land. Statement 2 is CORRECT. The revenue system extended beyond agriculture to commerce and manufacture, and private owners of workshops paid a tax on industry, part of a taxation policy contemporaries described as heavy.
Source
Academic research on Vijayanagara administration.
How to crack it
Reason from the fiscal logic of a large medieval state rather than from a memorised list. Any state assessing land systematically must grade it, since flat rates on unequal land collapse either revenue or cultivation, so statement 1 is structurally likely. Similarly, an empire as commercially active as Vijayanagara, with a famous urban capital and long distance trade, would not have taxed only agriculture. Structural plausibility is the right tool when the specific source is out of reach.