A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.46

c12.46

The land was fertile and there was plenty of grain, meat and fish; the Chera country was noted for its buffaloes, jack-fruit, pepper and turmeric. In the Chola country, watered by the Kaveri, it was said that the space in which an elephant could lie down produced enough to feed seven, and a vēli of land yielded a round thousand kalams of paddy. The little principality of Pāri abounded in forest produce like ‘bamboo-rice’, jack-fruit, valli-root and honey. Many rural activities like the cultivation of rāgi and sugar-cane, the making of sugar from the cane, and the harvesting and drying of grain are described in the Śangam poems in a vivid and realistic manner.