The Colas c26.39

c26.39

In the tenth year of Kulōttunga I,⁷⁵ the *nāṭṭār* of Puṟamalai-nāḍu are seen appointing a *pūjāri* (priest to conduct the worship) in the temple at Tīrthamalai in the Salem district. The *nāḍu* of Vaḍa-panangāḍu in Pudukkōṭṭah resolved in A.D. 1149 to levy a fine of one *mā* of arable land to be assigned to the temple for any injury caused by *ambanavar* (?) to arable land or on the highways in and near Nal-vayalūr.⁷⁶ An inscription from Jambai dated in the reign of a Karikāla-Cōḷadēva⁷⁷ assigns an important part to the *nāḍu* of Vāṇagappāḍi in the conduct of the affairs of the temple of Vāḷaiyūrnakkar-yōgavāṇar; the donor, a chieftain of Bāṇa extraction, states that his ancestors had assigned to the temple the village of Raṇabhīmamangalam; he then increases the endowment and the scale of expenses, and entrusts the proper observance of the new scale to the *nāḍu*. It is also of interest to note that under the general supervision of the *nāḍu*, the details of the management were carried on by one single village chosen by lot (*kuḍavōlai*) for each year—a provision which emphasises the relation between the assembly of the *nāḍu* and the village-assemblies suggested by the Leyden grant of a much earlier time. An undertaking given by the shepherds of a village to make certain annual payments to a temple is attested by 98 persons from 67 villages who describe themselves as *ūrkkuccamainda*, i.e., representing their respective villages, evidently on the assembly of Vaḷḷuvappāḍi-nāḍu, the region in which the villages were included; the inscription comes from Śrīrangam and is dated 1184, the sixth year of Kulōttunga III. Another inscription of the late Cōḷa period from Kāñcīpuram,⁷⁸ records what is apparently an approval by Madhurāntaka Pottappiccōḷa, the Telugu-Cōḍa king of the time, of a resolution of the *nāḍavar* of Jayangoṇḍa-śōḷamaṇḍalam remitting six *kalams* of paddy from the *kaḍamai* due on each *vēli* of land that was *tirappu*, or *dēvadāna*, *tiruviḍaiyāṭṭam*, *paḷḷiccandam*, *agarappaṟṟu*, *maḍappuṟam*, *jīvitappaṟṟu*, *paḍaippaṟṟu* and *vanniyappaṟṟu*. This enumeration of the types of holdings is apparently meant to be exhaustive and to include all the productive lands in the *nāḍu*; the instance before us is therefore one of a general revenue-remission initiated by the *nāḍu* and approved by the ruler of the locality, clear proof of the vitality of the assembly of the *nāḍu* even so late as the thirteenth century. The *nāṭṭavar* are also found often co-operating with other corporations and with individual officials in the administration of justice and in other matters.⁷⁹