The Colas c12.35

c12.35

The chief sources of royal revenue appear to have been land and trade. The *mā* and the *vēli* as measures of land were already known;³⁵ but we have no means of determining precisely the king's share of the produce of agriculture. The peasant was the backbone of the country's prosperity and was held in great esteem. The author of the *Kuraḷ* affirms that his was the only life worth the name, the life of all the rest being one of servitude and sycophancy.³⁶ The importance of foreign trade in the period, and the vivid account of the activity of customs officials given in the *Paṭṭinappālai*³⁷ must go a long way to convince us of the high place occupied by customs duties as a source of revenue.