[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929) › c11.7.2 # The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c11.7.2 The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c11.7.2 - **Language:** English ### [c11.7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c11.7.2) The \*nāḍu\* seems to have been the connecting link between the kingdom as a whole and the smallest unit of local administration which is referred to usually as \*grāmam\*. The names of \*grāmams\* usually end in \*mangalam\*, \*kuḍi\* and \*ūr\* and occasionally in \*vayal\*. The forms observed on the occasions when kings made gifts of whole villages are very interesting and deserve some notice. The gift is always a \*dānam\* in the religious sense and is expressed usually by the phrase நீரோட்டடிக்கொடுத்தான், which the Sinnamanūr plates render into \*ambupūrvam\*. The boundary of the village to be given away was generally fixed by following the beat of a female elephant that was let loose for the purpose as is indicated by ‘மன்னவனது பணியால் வடிவமையப் பிடிசூழ்ந்தான்’ of the Madras Museum grant and \*karēṇu sañcāra vibakta sīmā\* of the Sinnamanūr grant; and the boundary was marked by stones and live fences of \*kaḷḷi\* (எல்லை யகத்துக் கல்லுங் கள்ளியும் நாட்டி) and also clearly recorded in writing. The grant was invariably engraved on copper plates and a high officer of state was entrusted with the task of drawing up and recording the \*āṇatti\* or royal order in proper form. It is curious that the scribes are generally the \*Perumbaṇaikkārans\* of the kings making the grant.¹ All the gifts, when they did not go to temples, seem to have been in favour of Brahmaṇas and the lands so granted to Brahmaṇas had a recognized legal status \*brahmadēyam\*. - [Previous: c11.7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c11.7.1) - [Next: c11.7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c11.7.3) - [Up: c11.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c11.7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c11.7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c11.7.2) · Pramāṇa