The Colas c17.33

c17.33

The accurate survey and assessment of the country for purposes of land-revenue, the perfection of the administrative organisation of the country by the creation of a strong and centralised machinery corresponding to the staff of secretaries in a modern administration, and the posting of representative officers of the central government in suitable localities, the promotion of a system of audit and control by which village assemblies and other quasi-public corporations were held to account without their initiative or autonomy being curtailed, the creation of a powerful standing army and a considerable navy which achieved even greater success under Rājēndra than under himself, mark out Rājarāja as the greatest among the empire-builders of Southern India. No wonder, popular appreciation of Rājarāja's eminence finds expression in a Sanskrit verse engraved in a rock face in Tenmahādēvimangalam (N. Arcot, Polur taluq) within a generation or so after the end of his reign; the verse says that Viṣṇu will be born as Rājarāja, and Vākpati (Bṛhaspati) as his minister Jayanta; the king would survey the world and found a city in his name on the Triśūla hill, the Navirmalai ruled by Nannan in the Śaṅgam age.⁷⁷