The Colas c28.3

c28.3

There was on the whole greater social freedom, especially among the upper classes, than is now found in rural areas, and heredity was not always a bar to a person changing his occupation and his group-relations with it. This is clear from the fact that the Brahmins who took to trade at Eṇṇāyiram were counted along with the Vaḷañjiya merchants of the South bazaar of Eṇṇāyiram in one common group.¹ These were exceptions, and the Brahmins as a class were still devoted to their time-honoured ideals of spiritual culture and plain living, and commanded the voluntary homage of the other classes, as may be seen from the numberless endowments in their favour made in all parts of the country and by all classes without distinction.