The Colas c29.30

c29.30

The evidence on the yield of land and land values is by no means clear or copious. The number of crops raised each year on paddy lands was two, sometimes three.⁶⁶ No direct statement on the gross yield of land can ordinarily be traced in the inscriptions and the landlord's share called *mēlvāram*, *bhōgam* or even *iṟai* at times, is expressed in different ways. One of the very few instances where the gross yield is set down is the Cidambaram inscription of Rājakēsari Rājēndra⁶⁷ which says 44 *vēlis* of land yielded in all 4500 *kalams* of paddy, and that the *mēlvāram* on this was fifty per cent of the yield. A Mysore inscription of the time of Rājādhirāja gives the *mēlvāram* rate as two-fifths for wet land and one-fourth for areas under dry cultivation.⁶⁸ The inscriptions of Tiruvoṟṟiyūr show clearly that waste land newly brought under cultivation could not yield more than was enough to justify the rather low *mēlvāram* of 30 *kalams* per *vēli* in one instance, and 28 *kalams* and 19 *kalams* for two different classes of land in another.⁶⁹ An inscription of the sixth year of Rājēndra I from Nattam (Chingleput) states that the landlord's share per *kuḻi* of cultivated land was a *kuruṇi* and five *nāḻis*. In 1124, land (ninety *vēlis*) was given as *dēvadāna* and *maḍappura iṟaiyili* at Vṛddhācalam, on the basis of an *iṟai*, tax payable to government, of forty *kalams* of paddy per *vēli* by *Rājakēsari* measure (*marakkāl*).⁷⁰ From an inscription at Erumūr, South Arcot district, dated 1152, it is seen that some *dēvadāna* land, apparently of very good quality, was assessed at 26¼ *kalams* per *mā*, equal to 525 *kalams* per *vēli* or *nilam*, inclusive of *kaḍamai*, *pāḍi-kāval*, *śilvari* and any other taxes and cesses due therefrom.⁷¹ Lastly, a record from Periya-korukkai (Trichinopoly district) of the reign of Rājarāja III shows that some *dēvadāna* lands there paid an all inclusive tax of 20 *kalams* of paddy on wet land (*nanśey*) and 10 *kalams* on dry land (*puñjai*).⁷²