[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) › c19.17 # The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c19.17 The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c19.17 - **Language:** English ### [c19.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.17) We get just enough information in regard to the forms of land tenure to enable us to see that the conditions of tenancy cultivation varied in accordance with the locality; that shares in the produce between landlord and tenant often differed according to the nature of the crops raised, the tenant's share increasing with his part in the raising of the produce; and that, besides a share in the produce of the land, the landlord often had sundry other small claims on the tenant which were met by payments in cash or kind. An inscription from Ālaṅguḍi (Tanjore) of a certain Kulaśēkhara (No. 509 of 1920)—probably the king whose accession was in A.D. 1314—is very interesting; but there are difficulties in using it, as the only summary of the record that is available is not clear on many points; it gives an unusually detailed account of the rights and duties of landlords and cultivators.¹ Some records of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya (acc. A.D. 1276) describe the rather interesting terms on which lands of a certain temple were leased to tenants—the name of the tenure being Kāṇippiḍipāḍu.² Thus one record (No. 66 of 1916) says that the lessee or tenant shall enjoy the lands ‘after repairing the tanks in disuse and bringing under cultivation such of the lands as are covered with jungle and that while the lands are being enjoyed in this manner, he shall pay to the temple for the pāśan, a mēlvāram of one in three; for the cultivation of திணை, வரகு, எள்ளு, பயறு, குருவை, கரும்பு, கொழுந்து, கருணை, மஞ்சள், இஞ்சி, செங்கழுநீர், வாழை, வழுதலை, பூசனி. . . , etc., as well as trees மா, பலா, நார்த்தை, எலுமிச்சை, குனவிருளி, நெல்லி, இலுப்பை, etc., one in five shall be given; for cocoanut and areca palms one in seven and for dry crops, according to the yield, one in seven. In the case of lands which had been brought under cultivation clearing jungle he shall have to pay one-tenth in the first year, one-ninth in the second year, one-eighth in the third year, one-seventh in the fourth year and that for all subsequent years a permanent mēlvāram of one in three shall be paid.' Another very similar record from the same place gives slightly different rates of mēlvāram for crops other than pāśan. 'In either instance it is distinctly stated that the donee should not keep the lands without cultivating them and that mounds and low grounds should be levelled and the jungle removed.' - [Previous: c19.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.16) - [Next: c19.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.18) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.17) · Pramāṇa