In addition to land tax, which was a part of the produce

Badami and Pattadakal

The work was continued in the adjacent towns of Badami and Pattadakal. Pattadakal has ten temples, built m the seventh and eighth centuries. The most celebrated of these are the Papanatha temple (c. 680), and the Virupaksha temple (c. 740). The first, although 30 meters long, has a low and stunted tower m the northern style the second was constructed purely in southern style. It is about 40 meters in length and has a very high square and storied tower (sikkara). The temple walls are adorned with beautiful sculptures representing scenes from the Ramayana

We have no clear idea how these early temples were maintained. After the eighth century land grants to temples became a common phenomenon m south India, and usually they were recorded on the walls of the temples. But earlier the temples seem to have been constructed and maintained out of the taxes collected by the king from the common people. Some temples in Karnataka under the Chalukyas were erected by the Jaina traders. Although the common people worshipped their village gods by offering them paddy and toddy, they may also have made offerings to these temples to acquire status and to satisfy their religious cravings.

Demands on the Peasantry

There is no doubt that for carrying on wars, for cultivating art and literature, for promoting religion, and for maintaining the administrative staff, enormous resources were needed, These were apparently provided by the peasantry The nature of burdens imposed on the agrarian .communities is more or less the same in the Vakataka kingdom and the Pallava kingdom although the former belonged to Vidarbha and Maharashtra, and the latter to southern Andhra and northern Tamil Nadu.

In addition to land tax, which was a part of the produce, the king could demand benevolence in the form of cereals and gold, and could bore certain trees, such as the palmary, for obtaining salt and moist substances such as sugar and liquor, all derived from plants. Of course all the deposits and hidden treasures in the villages belonged to him further, he demanded flower and milk, wood and grass, and could compel the villagers to carry loads free of charge. The king was also entitled to forced labor or vista.

In connection with the visit of royal officials, who would appear m the villages either for collecting taxes or for punishing the criminals, and also in course of the march of the army, the rural communities had to perform a number of obligations. They had to supply bullocks for carts and provide cots, charcoal, ovens, cooking pots, and attendants.