The Colas c29.45

c29.45

Closely allied to agriculture was cattle-raising and dairy-farming, an industry pursued generally by the *manṟāḍis* or shepherds. Here again, we depend much on the temple records for our information. The *manṟāḍis* seem to have been organised in a professional caste group (*kalanai*), and generally taken charge of the cattle donated to the temples for the maintenance of lamps under stated conditions. Though the *paśu* (cow) and *āḍu* (ewe) are sometimes used only as units of reckoning, still in the majority of instances there is no doubt that live animals are meant, and often enough, breeding bulls and rams form part of the gifts. The importance of cattle-farming may also be inferred from the names of several imposts the exact nature of which is not fully known, such as *nallā*, *nallerudu*, *aḷagerudu-kāśu* and so on.