The Colas c28.35

c28.35

Some instances of scarcity and famine are incidentally recorded in the inscriptions, but they are not many. About 1131 (thirteenth year of Vikramaśōḷa) as the result of a famine in the mountainous regions of S. Arcot people began to move out from Arakaṇḍanallūr (Tirukoyilur tq.) after selling their lands; the *sabhā* of the place met and redistributed the 24 shares in the village to new persons with the condition that no sale or barter to outsiders was permissible, and that violation of this condition would involve loss of the land besides a fine of 64 *kalañjus*. Individuals were sometimes hard hit and had, as pointed out already, to seek livelihood at the price of their personal freedom. The most outstanding instance of a somewhat widespread distress and the measures adopted for combating it is found in an inscription from Ālanguḍi (Tanjore district) of A.D. 1152.⁹⁹ Its import is unfortunately not free from uncertainty. It states that there was a *kāladōṣam*, 'bad time', in the third year of the reign of Vijayarājēndradēva who, after taking Kalyāṇapuram and Kollāpuram, died on the back of an elephant. The king so described nearly a century after his time must have been Rājādhirāja I or his younger brother and successor, Rājēndra II.¹⁰⁰ The cause of the scarcity from which the people of Ālanguḍi suffered is by no means clear.¹⁰¹ But we are told that the people borrowed from the treasury of the local temple all the gold jewels and silver articles that could be spared to the extent of 1011 *kalañjus* of gold and 464 *palams* of silver in order to be able to maintain themselves and buy seed and manure for resuming cultivation. These transactions are recalled on the occasion of a fresh agreement with the temple relating to the terms of the repayment of the loan.