Hindu Administrative Institutions c9.s2.24

c9.s2.24

Most of the available inscriptions record gift of land, free of taxes made by the kings to Brahmans versed in the Vedas. The following may be quoted: ‘These 77, 6/20ths and 1/160ths (*veli*) of land more or less we gave including the trees over ground, the wells under ground, in the land and all other benefits (*prāptis*) of whatever kind having first excluded the former owners and the hereditary proprietors, and having purchased (it) as tax free property (*kāṇi*) for the 106 Bhaṭṭas of this village and for the two shares (of the image) of Sāmantanārāyaṇa-viṇṇagar Emberumān from the rainy season of the thirty-fifth (year of our reign) as a meritorious gift (*dharma-dāna*) with libations of water with the right to bestow mortgage or sell (it) as a tax free grant of land to last as long as the moon and the sun.’¹