The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c11.11.2

c11.11.2

the proceeds comprising 580 kalams of paddy per annum to be given by the assembly were to be devoted to meet the cost of offerings (*tiru amudu*) to be made four times a day in the temple of Tiruppōttuḍaiya Bhaṭārar at Iḷangōkkuḍi according to a detailed schedule of offerings given in the inscription ; and it was made the duty of the servants of the temple and a committee of the assembly to see that the expenditure was properly incurred from day to day (*Bhaṭārar paṇimakkaḷum Iḷangōkkuḍi ccavai vāriyarum uḍaninṛu . . . nāngu kālamum-tiruvamidu-śeluttum-paḍi*).¹ Again the Trichinopoly inscription of the eleventh year of Varaguṇa records another endowment of 125 kalanjus of gold for the regular supply of ghī for the burning of four perpetual lamps and five other lamps in the temple of Tirumalai Bhaṭārar. This endowment was placed in fixed deposit with the Nagarattār of Śirrambar, and its proper administration was vested in the Pati of Śirrambar and the servants of the temple as trustees—(இவ்வொட்டின பரிசுநெய் அட்டுவிப்பதற்கு அமைந்து புணைப்பட்டோம் சிற்றம்பர்பதியும் பாதமூலத்தோமும்).¹ It may well be that the Nagarattār of Śirrambar were a corporation of merchants in the place; but it is not possible to say who the Pati was. He might have been the head of the corporation of merchants or a royal officer. The analogy of the Ilaṅgōkkuḍi-ccavai vāriyam points to the former alternative.