State and Government in Ancient India c18.s1.97

c18.s1.97

In the case of calamities like famines, they used to raise a public loan by mortgaging the common lands at least in the Chola period; we have an instance of one village council mortaging 8·33 *velis* of common land in order to secure a loan of 1011 *kalañjus* of gold and 464 *palams* of silver in order to distribute relief to the famine stricken population.² The creditor in such cases was usually the village temple, which used to own extensive properties in most cases.