The Colas c29.6

c29.6

Some idea of the life of the poorer classes in the villages, those in the lowest rung of the social scale, may be gained from the picture of Ādanūr with which Śēkkiḻār opens his account of the life of the Pariah saint Nandan. Though somewhat idealised in accordance with literary usage, it is clearly informed by an intimate acquaintance on the part of the author with the realities of country life at the time: 'Ādanūr was a wealthy city of ancient fame in Mēṟkā-nāḍu. The rich waters of the Koḷḷiḍam, (Coleroon) seemed to pour out on either side the gems of fertility with their waves (hands), and the land appeared to receive the gift with its flowery hands (gardens on either side). . . . . . The town of Ādanūr owed its great prosperity to its fertile fields and gardens, and had many tall mansions and a teeming population. In the outskirts of that town was a small hamlet of Pulaiyas studded with small huts under old thatches overspread by *śurai* creepers and inhabited by agrarian labourers engaged in menial occupations. In the thresholds of the huts covered with strips of leather, little chickens were seen moving about in groups; dark children who wore bracelets of black iron were prancing about, carrying little puppies whose yelps were drowned by the tinkling bells which girdled their waists. In the shade of the *marudu* trees, a female labourer (*uḻatti*) sent her baby to sleep on a sheet of leather; there were mango trees from whose branches drums were hanging; and under the cocoanut palms, in little hollows on the ground, tiny-headed bitches lay quiet after pupping. The red-crested cocks crowed before dawn calling the brawny *pulaiyar* to their day's work; and by day, under the wide shade of the *Kāñji* tree spread the voice of the wavy-haired Pulaiya women singing as they were husking paddy. By the side of tanks full of warbling birds, the music of many instruments accompanied the drinking *fetes* of Pulaiya women who wore on their heads fragrant flowers and ears of paddy-corn, and who staggered in their dance as the result of increasing intoxication. In this abode of the people of the lowest caste (*kaḍaiñar*), there arose a man with a feeling of true devotion to the feet of Śiva. He was the unrivalled Nandanār who inherited as his share communal service in the neighbouring township (*ūr-ppulamai*).......... Depending for his livelihood on his share of the communal land (land set apart by the town for Pariahs in communal employ), and following the profession that was his by birth, he used to supply, to the temples of the Lord of the Trident, leather and leather straps for making drums, strings (guts) for lutes of various types and bezoar for the worship of the God of gods.' Workers of this class were indeed in a condition of serfdom, adscripti glebae with no freedom of movement.