The Colas c25.32

c25.32

The designations and functions of some of the officers of government as they are found in the more important inscriptions of the period give us a very good idea of the numbers and organisation of the executive government of the day. The general terms by which such officers of all ranks are described are *Karumigaḷ* and *Paṇi-makkaḷ*, more or less corresponding to 'officials' and 'servants.' The Anbil plates of Sundara Cōḷa mention a Brahmin *Saciva* by name Aniruddha whose father was a teacher who gloried in a life of learning and instruction, and whose grandfather was an *Āhitāgni* and a devotee of Rangēśa. Aniruddha's was a celebrated family of Vaiṣṇavas from the village of Anbil. What the exact position of this 'noble minister' (*mānya saciva*) of the Jaimini sūtra and the Āvēṇika gōtra was in the administration, we are not told. But he got from the king the title of Brahmādhirāja and a perpetual grant of 10 *vēlis* of land in token of his regard and affection. The machinery employed for the execution of this order of the king is comparatively simple.