The Colas c26.7

c26.7

In 1077, at Cēbrōlu,²⁰ an endowment of some lamps in the local temple was placed under the permanent protection of the Sthānapati, and the three hundred *ayyalu* and the three hundred *sānulu* of the place. At Kāmarasavalli, a body called the Seven-hundred-and-fifty took charge in 1096²¹ of an endowment which involved the periodical collection of specified contributions and the maintenance, with the proceeds, of the worship and specified festivals in the temple. The ‘cittiramēḻipperiya-nāḍu of the seventy-nine nāḍus’ act as judges in a case of accidental homicide during a hunting party at Jambai in the third year of Kulōttunga II.²² The Araiyar of the locality undertake the protection of a charitable endowment in Kunnāṇḍārkōyil (Pudukottah) in the second year of Rājarāja II.²³ The *bhaṭṭar*, *periyanāṭṭār* and *pannāṭṭār* prescribe the *prāyaścitta*, penance or expiation, for an accidental homicide at Olakkūr (South Arcot) in the fourth regnal year of Rājādhirāja II,²⁴—a function which was performed some years later by the *pannāṭṭār* alone at Vēlūr in the same region.²⁵ In the nineteenth year of Kulōttunga III, the *periya-nāṭṭu-viṣayattar* of twelve *nāḍus* gave some land as *tiruviḍaiyāṭṭam* to a temple in Nellore.²⁶ In the same year a body called *dēvadāna-nāṭṭavar* present a petition to Kulōttunga III at Tiruvorṟiyūr regarding the condition of a *dēvadāna* village.²⁷ In the twentieth year of Kulōttunga III, the *sthānattār* of the temple, the Rudra-māhēśvaras, and the four families who acted as guardians of the temple (*innāyanār kāppārāna nālu kuḍyilōm*) accepted an endowment from a *dēvaraḍiyāḷ* of the temple of Tirumaṇañjēri-uḍaiya-nāyanār.²⁸ Twelve years later, the authorities of the Viṣṇu temple at Tirukkōyilūr recovered from a certain Araṭṭamukkidāsan ten cows entrusted to his grandfather many years before; evidently the terms of the original endowment had suffered neglect.²⁹ The *māhēśvaras* were present with the *sabhā* of Tirunāraiyūr and the *nāḍu* of Kulōttungaśōḷa-pēriḷamaināḍu, when they enquired into and adjudged a case of longstanding misappropriation of the livestock belonging to a temple.³⁰ This was in 1218. At Muniyūr in the Tanjore district, a high official of the central government, the *niyāyattār* of the town, the executive committee (of the *ūr*) comprising nine persons and the trustees of the temple (*tānattār*) co-operated in engraving on the temple walls the title deeds of the temple relating to its *iraiyili* lands, as the deeds were in danger of being lost by decay.³¹ The *māhēśvaras* of Tirukkaḷar, Tanjore district, decided in 1234 that descendants in the female line could be held responsible for the performance of duties undertaken by their ancestors in accordance with the terms of a charitable endowment, and that they should continue to pay interest on money invested with the family.³² These instances illustrate the variety of local corporations and the wide range of their interests and activities. We are not yet in a position, however, to determine the composition and mutual relations of these bodies as closely as may be desired.