Trading in horses was an important and profitable business, monopolised the Arabs and some local merchants. Oxen and bullock carts were used for business and leisure travel within the kingdom. While superior quality horses served the purpose for army cavalry, inferior horses were used as pack animals for moving commodities, especially in the hilly regions where cattle driven carts were too slow. Buying and selling land was not just the business of the two concerned parties but needed the consent of village elders and Mahajans (Brahmins). Artists and craftsman operated as corporations rather than as individual business. Inscriptions mention guilds of weavers, oilmen, artisans, basket and mat makers and fruit sellers. A Saundatti inscription refers to an assemblage of all the people of a district headed by the guilds of the region. The weaver guild of Lakshmeshwar (in Gadag) had one executive head and the Mulgund guild had four executives with a membership of about two thousand artisans. The largest guilds were the Vira Balanju guilds of Belgamve (Balligavi) with nine heads and the Miraj inscription mentions another with nineteen executives. The number of executives depended directly on the membership in the guild. The Belgamve guild had five hundred inscriptions ("Shasana") written outlining the rules and regulations by which all members had to adhere. Some guilds were considered superior to others, just as some corporations were, and received royal charters determining their powers and privileges. The Dambal inscription mentions its guild as the "lord of Aihole" and that its members owned their own royal umbrellas. Inscriptions suggest these guilds had their own militia to protect goods in transit and, like village assemblies, they operated banks that lent money to traders and businesses. Information on the kingdom's revenue system is now available from its copper plate grants, contemporaneous writings and inscriptions from neighbouring kingdoms. The accounts of Muslim writers of the time also provide insight into details. The government's income came from five principal sources: regular taxes, occasional taxes, fines, income taxes and tributes from feudatories. Regular taxes were called "Ujranga", "Uparikara", "Sidddhaya" and "Visthi". There were some miscellaneous taxes as well. Occasional taxes were called "chcitabhata pravesadavala" and "Rajasevakanam vasatidan". An emergency tax was also imposed occasionally.