Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s5.44

c12.s5.44

Among the officials referred to in South Indian inscriptions two of them are important for our present purpose⁹—the official in charge of tax-free villages *puravuvari* and the official in charge of the tax-register *varippottagam*. In this connection a reference may also be made to an inscription of Vīrarājendradeva.¹⁰ This records the grant of the revenue of a village and incidentally furnishes information regarding revenue officers and their duties. Here are mentioned one official for the *puravuvari* and one for the *varippottagam*. Other officials mentioned are six officers of the *udaṅkūṭṭam*, the thirty-three officers of *viḍaiyil* (despatch office), the *mugaveṭṭi*, the *variyiliḍu*, the *paḷanyāyam*, etc. From other inscriptions we understand there were no fixed number of officials in charge of the *puravari*. Among the fourteen inscriptions of Ukkal¹ one mentions it as the order of Rājarāja the Great, empowering the village assembly to confiscate and sell off the lands for which no revenue was paid for two full years. This indirectly serves to diminish the number of defaulters, for default meant sometimes the loss of ownership of the land.