Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c7.s2.9

c7.s2.9

Similarly at Peṇṇāḍam in the South Arcot district, the same Valaṅgai and Iḍaṅgai sects formed themselves into a body to oppose coercion and oppression by the officers of the government. The two records registering this state that the 98 sub-sections of these communities living in the districts on the northern bank of the Kāvēri, Mērkāṉadu, in Virudarājabhayaṅkaravaḷanādu, the 18 parrus of Iruṅgōḷapāṇḍi-vaḷanāḍu etc., “ having assembled in full numbers in the temple of Tuṅgāṉaimāḍam Uḍaiyār at Peṇṇāḍam alias Muḍikoṇḍaśōla caturvēdimaṅgalam drafted a bond of union to the effect that if the Pradhāni vaṇṇiyar and the Jivitakkārar used any coercive measures against them, if any landed proprietors among the Brāhmaṇas or the Veḷḷāḷas caused any harm to them through the revenue officials, if any of them submitted to unjust taxation or dessiminated false tales or caused damage to documents (presumably formulating their communal rights), if any one in the maṇḍalam accepted service as an accountant or was guilty of nāṭṭudrōham, the assemblies of these communities shall, as on this occasion, meet and decide the form of punishment to be meted out to the offenders.”323