The Colas c29.10.1

c29.10.1

The term *veḷḷān-vagai* comprises two words of which the first clearly means 'cultivator'. Of the second word *vagai*, the meanings suited to the present context are 'class' or 'manner.' That *vagai* is used in the epigraphs in the sense of classification according to tenure will become clear from our recalling the phrase *nāḍu-vagai-śeyyira* applied to revenue officials employed in the settlement of land-revenue; the process of settlement (*vagai-śeydal*) involved the registration of titles and tenures including those of the ordinary cultivators (*veḷḷān*). It may be observed, in passing, that the classification of land in the order of fertility of the soil was called *taram-iḍudal*, grading. *Veḷḷān-vagai* is clearly contrasted with other forms of tenure in the inscriptions. Karuppūr was one of many villages appointed by Rājarāja to supply fixed quantities of grain to the Tanjore temple; only such of its cultivable land as was classed as *veḷḷān-vagai*, the *dēvadānas* and *śālābhōgas* being excluded, was taken into account to fix its quota of the supply to the Tanjore temple.¹¹ Again, in the Tiruvālangāḍu plates we are told in the most casual manner that the normal type of a tax-paying village was the *veḷḷān-vagai*. The village of Paḷaiyanūr, a *brahmadēya* in the possession of the *sabhā* of Śiṅgaḷāntaka-caturvēdimangalam, was converted into a *veḷḷān-vagai* village, the *sabhā* getting other land in exchange (*talai-māṟu*).