Various Other Taxes in Gurkha Gorkha Rule in Garhwal –Kumaon

History: Economical Administration of Garhwal, Kumaon in Gurkha Rule -5

History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Garhwal - 54

History of Gorkha /Nepal Rule over Kumaun, Garhwal and Himachal (1790-1815) -117    

   History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -638

                          By: Bhishma Kukreti (A History Student)

                                     Gheekar or Ghee Tax

   Garhwali Kings also used to collect Ghee Kar or tax on milk producing animals. Though, the numbers of milk producing animals used to vary every year in any family the tax collected in 1812 and 1815 was same. That means the Ghee Tax once fixed used to be unchanged. The slight variation used to depend on the knowledge of local Kamin (Thokdar) and local Garkha (Gurkha officer).

                    Mijhari or Tax on Cobblers

   Trel describes a Tax as Mijhari collected in Shrinagar from Cobblers in 1813 and amount was Rs.31 and half rupee. This tax was collected from Shrinagar only.

  Other parallel tax was called Dom Tax or Doom or tax on craftsmen (from Records of Dhangu Kameen). This tax was collected from Schedule caste people. Dhangu Kameen collected Dom Kar in 1807 for Rs 71.Ana 10 and Ghee kar as for rs 67 ana 4and paid to Garkah Sardar (Personal library of Thokdar Awatar Singh Rawat).

                       Tandkar , Chankar or Weaving Tax

Gurkha levied tax on weavers (cotton, hemp and wool). The tax was called Tandkar. In upper Garhwal such tax was called Chan Kar .  Dabral suggested that there was no mention of Tandkar in records of Dhangu Kamin and perhaps either there was no much production of fibers produces or such ax was included in Domkar. Koli used to weave woolen produces and cotton produces.

                         Sonya Fagun Kar or Festival and Feast Taxes

     Local officers used to collect Sonya Fagun or Festival and Feast Tax from local villagers as per events and officer’s choices.

 Gorkha/Gurkha officers used to celebrate Hindu festivals with zeal and regularly. For those festival expenses they used to collect Sonya Fagun tax without any compromise.

   The record of Dhangu Kamin (including today’s Dhangu and Dabralsyun) shows that Kamin collected Sonya Fagun Kar from villagers in 1807 from the following villages-

 Sonya Fagun Tax from Dhangu including Dabralsyun Villages in Gurkha rule in 1807

Sambat 64 sal ki sauna fagu ki kimat-

Village----------Pungadi or Agro Tax-------------Sonya Fagun (All in Rupees of Gurkha Period)

Far -------------------1--------------------------------¼

Hatnud---------------2---------------------------------¾

Jud--------------------2--------------------------------¼

Deekhet--------------3--------------------------------½

Dhandhri ------------4-------------------------------1

Ull -------------------5-------------------------------¾

Tadi----------------5---------------------------------½

Banni----------------6--------------------------------1

Khainduri ----------7------------------------------1

Gyadi-----------------9-----------------------------2

Kothar---------------12---------------------------2 and ¼

Kuanda -------------12----------------------------2

Dabar-----------------13--------------------------2 and ¼

Kharik----------------14-------------------------2 and ½

Amola-----------------15-------------------------2 and ½

Gaind------------------15 and ¾ ---------------------3 and ½

The study shows-

1-The Sonya Fagun tax is always bellow than Pungadi tax.

2-Barring Dabar and Gaind all above villages are Rajput community dominated completely. Dabar is completely Dabral community dominated village. Surprisingly no tax was levied bigger village dominated by Brahmins as Jaspur, Bareth, and Gahli etc

(Records of Dhangu Kamin from Thokdar Awatar Singh Rawat)

                             Adhnni Daftari Tax

  Atkinson sated this tax for Kanungo or Daftari. The tax was at the rate of half Ana of Pungadi Kar. The Adhanni tax was for in lio of official salary of Daftari, Kamin, Padhan etc.

 The records of Bahadur Bhandari and Dashrath Khatri stated the following taxes from Gangwar or British Garhwal as

Pungari tax or land tax in urkhali Rs.------- 82406

Sonya Fagun -----------------------1495

Adhanni Daftari --------------------1495

That means Sonya Fagun and Adhanni Tax was taken at the same rate.

  Sayar or Import -Export Tax in Gurkha rule

   Sayar or Import-Export tax was important and revenue generating tax after Pungadi tax in Gurkha regime in Garhwal, Kumaon.

 Gurkha regime used to get Sayar or Import-Export tax for Nepali rupees 10900 every year from East Garhwal (Gangawar).

Import and export tax was collected from following river ports (Ghat)-

River Ports of Bhabhar – Bidasani, Bhuri Ghat, Palpur, Babli-Kangda, Siggadi, Kotdwar. Trel mentioned Chaukighat too. Foster mentions Laldhang, Chandighat and Lakadghat too.

Ghat of Dehradun- Kansari, Mohan and Timli

Shrinagar Ghat

Neeti Ghati- Tapovan

Uttarkashi- Barahat

 The import and export tax was not collected by state employees but by contractors. Ghat were auctioned to contractors.

                           Tax in Shrinagar in Gurkha Regime

  There was import tax on the produces reaching into Shrinagar as on Cotton materials, woolen products, silk, spices, salt, Jiggery, sugar, tobacco.  The import tax was collected in river port and inside capital too. Tibet merchants stopped coming to Shrinagar due to double /triple tax system.    

 The produces of nearby villages had discounts on tax. A few temples were exempted from tax.

Contracors used to offer no tax or discount for Brahmins.

Fodder was   sold in Shrinagar and tax was collected in Shrinagar from Grass traders.

                          Tax in Neeti Valley (Tapovan)

  In 1812, the Tapovan River port was auctioned for Rs 500. The contractor had 17 wives and two maid keepers.

                          Tax collection in Barahat (Uttarkashi)

  There was small post in Barahat for collecting tax on goods coming from Tibet and Saharanpur, Dehradun.

The records show following tax in Rupees collected in 1813 (English Pre Mutiny Records Kumaon) –

For Shrinagar Temples- 1003 and ½

On Ghas or Fodder tax in Shringar--- 120

On Soap, Tobaco , Charas in Shringar –365

Leather import in Shringar – 31 and ½

Sigaddi Chauki ---------7200

Balli Kand Chauki ------135 and ½

Kotdwara Ghat –12000

River Nayar Dunda (Boat tax) --  45

Tapovan Chauki – 238

Total -----------------------------20138 and ½

After deducting Expenses total collection ( 10900+ 200) =11100

               Tax collection on Forest Contracts

  The forests were auctioned and tax was collected by auction.

The collection form forest contract the income from Doon was as

1809-10---------- 16000 Gorkhali rupees

1810-11---------- 15200 Gorkhali rupees

1813, Sigaddi Chauki ----- 7200 Gorkhali rupees

1813, Balli Kand—135 and ½ Gorkhali rupees

1813, Kotdwara Ghat- 12000 Gorkhali rupees

There was income from Wood utensil production or wood uses as follows from 1811-1815-

 Catechu ------ 170 Gorkhali rupees

Bamboo and other wood produces – 600 Gorkhali rupees

                    Income from Mines and minerals

       There was tax on mines of lead, copper , iron etc and Taksal and the income was as under

Mines ---------------------------------year --------------Amount in Gorkhali rupees

Dhanpur lead and copper mines---1808------------- 4000

Dhanpur Copper mines -------------1815---------------1850

Shrinagar Taksal (stamping on Coin)—1815-------------100

               Asmani farman or Punishment

      Local Gorkha officers used to punish financially for offenses by citizens. Many times false accusion was made to loot the people (Trel)

The record of Dhangu Kamin offer examples of Asmani or Dand tax as follows in 1807-

For Gnaga Havldar haste Dand ---- 10 and ¼ Gorkhali rupees

Jaspur Gram ka Asmani Farman ka – 5 and ½ Gorkhali rupees

Bareth Gram ka Khata ma ---------------13 and ½ Gorkhali rupees

Breth Gram ka Umrau ka pas ----------------4 and ¾ Gorkhali rupees

Bajvaran Jmadar pas pichhli Fant dand -----82 Gorkhali rupees

In 1813, there was decision to take Smani Farman Dand for Gangawar (Pauri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag districts) for  Gorkhali rupees 2000.

  

** Most of references and details were taken from Dr Dabral

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com14///2015

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -639

*** History of Gorkha/Gurkha /Nepal Rule over Kumaun, Garhwal and Himachal (1790-1815) to be continued in next chapter 

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

XX

                    Reference

Atkinson E.T., 1884, 1886 , Gazetteer of  Himalayan Districts …

Hamilton F.B. 1819, An Account of Kingdom of Nepal and the territories

Colnol Kirkpatrik 1811, An Account of Kingdom of Nepal

Dr S.P Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas part 5, Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda

Bandana Rai, 2009 Gorkhas,: The Warrior Race

Krishna Rai Aryal, 1975, Monarchy in Making Nepal, Shanti Sadan, Giridhara, Nepal

I.R.Aryan and T.P. Dhungyal, 1975, A New History of Nepal , Voice of Nepal

L.K Pradhan, Thapa Politics:

Gorkhavansavali, Kashi, Bikram Samvat 2021 

Derek J. Waller, The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia page 172-173

B. D. Pande, Kumaon ka Itihas

Sharma , Nepal ko Aitihasik Rup Rekha

Chaudhari , Anglo  –Nepalese Relations

Pande, Vasudha , Compares Histriographical Traditions of Gorkha Rule in Nepal and Kumaon

Pradhan , Kumar, 1991, The Gorkha Conquests , Oxford University  Press

Minyan Govrdhan Singh , History of Himachal Pradesh

A.P Coleman, 1999, A Special Corps

Captain Thomas Smith, 1852,Narrative of a Five Years Residence at Nepal Vol.1

Maula Ram/Mola Ram  , Ranbahadurchandrika and Garhrajvanshkavya

J B Fraser , Asiatic Research

Shyam Ganguli, Doon Rediscovered

Minyan Prem Singh, Guldast Tabarikh Koh Tihri Garhwal

Patiram Garhwal , Ancient and Modern

Tara Datt Gairola, Parvtiy Sanskriti

XXX

History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Garhwal, Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Pauri Garhwal, Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Sirmour Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Chamoli Garhwal, Nainital Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Kangara Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Rudraprayag Garhwal, Almora Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Baghat Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Tehri Garhwal, Champawat Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Punar Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Uttarkashi Garhwal, Bageshwar Kumaon, Uttarakhand;  Nahan Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Dehradun Garhwal, Pithoragarh Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History Himachal; 

Nepal Itihas, Garhwal Itihas, Kumaon Itihas, Himachal Itihas; Gurkha/Gorkha ka Kumaon par  Adhikar Itihas , Gurkha/Gorkha Garhwal par Shasan Itihas;  Gurkha/Gorkha Rule in Kumaon, Garhwal Uttarakhand; History Gurkha/Gorkha  Rule in Himachal,