Local Government in Ancient India c14.7

c14.7

(1) The *Velaikkāras.* No. 600 of 1912 records a shrine being placed under them, and they agreed to ‘protect the villages belonging to the temple, its servants, property, and devotees, even though, in doing this, we lose ourselves or otherwise suffer. We provide for all the requirements of the temple so long as our community continues to exist, repairing such parts of the temple as get dilapidated in the course of time, and we get this our contract which is attested by us engraved on stone and copper so that it may last as long as the moon and sun endure.’ The community was led by the Valañjiyār and Nagarattār sub-sects of merchants who extended their trade all over the country, and are represented by the present Baṇajiga and Nagartta communities of the Kanarese country who are mostly Liṅgāyat Śaivas and Vaiṣṇavas respectively. The Velaikkāras emigrated into Ceylon and formed a body of mercenaries employed by the Sinhalese kings. They are also mentioned in the Tanjore inscriptions of the Cola kings, of whose army they formed a part (*Mad. Ep. Report*, 1912–13, p. 102).