The Colas c12.39

c12.39

An army of well-equipped professional soldiers was regularly maintained and no doubt found frequent employment in those bellicose times. The captains of the army were distinguished by the title of *ēnādi* conferred on them in a ceremony of formal investiture at which the king presented his chosen commander with a ring and other insignia of high military rank.⁴⁰ The *Puṟanānūṟu* contains two poems⁴¹ on such military leaders who served the Cōḷa monarchs; of these, one gives a very clear notion of the ideals cherished by a good soldier in those days: