The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c11.11.1

c11.11.1

The grāmam was the unit of local administration as pointed out before, and there are enough indications to show that as a rule it was well able to take care of its affairs and that it inspired confidence in the king of the country by efficiency and rectitude in its conduct of affairs. An inscription from Tiruccendūr (26 of 1912) tells us that the king Varaguna Mahārāja distributed among sixteen villages a large endowment he made to the local temple for meeting the cost of service in the temple throughout the twelve months of the year. The total endowment consisted of 1,400 gold *kāśus* and these *kāśus* were to be a permanent endowment, only the interest being spent for the purposes specified. The rate of interest is fixed at two kalams of paddy per annum on each *kāśu*. The penalty for default strikes us however as severe. It is that interest is doubled during the period of default and in addition a heavy fine of twenty-five gold *kāśus* is to be paid to the temple. Again a sum of 290 gold *kāśus* was, in the sixteenth year of the same king, placed in the hands of the assembly of Ambāsamudram (*Varaguṇa-mahārājar Toṇḍaināṭṭu ppeṇṇaikkarai Araiśūr Viṛrirundu Iḷangōkkuḍi ccavaiyār kaiyirkkuḍutta kāśu Irunuṛruṭṭoṇṇūru*) to be utilized likewise as a permanent endowment ; the interest on the endowment was fixed at the same rate as in the other gift viz., two kalams of paddy per annum per *kāśu* ;