Mughal influence on Nepalese general administration

Some taxes were known as Dastur, Salami, Dalai Bhanshar. ‘Dalal’ is an Arabic term meaning ‘a negotiator between the two parties in business’, ‘broker’. Fatte Mubarak is a tax collected from traders in the Kathmandu valley to commemorate its conquest by king Prithvinarayan Shah in 1768-69. Fatte means victory and mubarak means felicitations. Dastur was a kind of tax from land owners. In Persian language, it means ‘rule’ ‘custom’, ‘convention’, ‘law’, ‘constitution’, ‘fashion’. Bheti was an offer of cash, sometimes imposed as special levy from all officials. For an example, this system was also there in Gorkha. Later on when Rana Bahadur Shah’s dues in Varanasi had to be paid, the Salami was imposed on all the officials.
Salami was also a levy imposed on the employee or on confirmation of land on a person, which was also levied by Bahadur Shah from the Kiratas later on. Dalal was also a tax on goods when they reached the market. Bhansar was a customs duty paid on the export and import of goods. The Gorkha king implemented the policy of economic blockade so long as the Kathmandu valley was not conquered by him; but after the conquest the doors were opened and trade flourished. But only a few Kashmiris and Gosians were allowed to stay there even during the period of economic blockade. King Prithvinarayan Shah was not interested in crippling trade but in serving his political purpose, i.e. blockade of the Kathmandu valley.
Thirty-six taxes mentioned in king Prithvinarayan Shah’s letter are not clear. Only in Baisis (twenty-two kingdoms) there is the mention of thirty-six and thirty-two types of taxes. But the items are vague. Besides this, there was Bhansar (customs duty levied on export and import of goods). At the time of Kirkpatrick’s visit to Nepal in 1792-93, Chessapani was a customs-house station, the only one, besides Sindhuli at which duties were collected on goods of merchandise coming from the East India Company’s and Nawab Vizier’s territories.
The Arabic word ‘Kist’ meaning instalment or portion, is an amount paid as an instalment or the period fixed for its payment. As a revenue term it denoted a portion of an annual assessment to be paid at specified periods in the course of a year.
The Arabic-Persian word ‘Salami’ is also used in the Nepalese revenue administration. It is a levy paid to the Prime Minister by the civil and military officers at the time of their first appointment and when their services were reconfirmed. On other occasions also, ‘Salami’ was exacted.
During the rule of the Regent Bahadur Shah taxes like Salami, Fatte Mubarak, Jagat duty, Ijara grants, everything was in vogue. During his time Salami tax was exacted in Phagu festivals.
Dr Muhammad Siddique is an ex-diplomat