Studies in Cola History and Administration c10.56

c10.56

and placed it under the perpetual supervision of her younger brother, a certain Nārāyaṇadatta-bhaṭṭa, and his descendants and the Mahāsabhā of the village who undertook to pay all the dues on the lands set apart by the terms of the endowment. The nature of the supervision is laid down in considerable detail. Among the qualifications for admission to a share in the Bhaṭṭavṛtti are mentioned proficiency in not less than one Veda together with Vyākaraṇa and the two darśanas of the Mīmāṃsā; something (?) combined with a knowledge of Nyātabhāṣya; proficiency in not less than one Veda together with competence in expounding Vyākaraṇa, the Nyāyabhāṣya with vārttika, and the Vaiśeṣika with its ṭīkā (commentary). It is also laid down that no one who had a share in the village-lands was entitled to participate in the Bhaṭṭavṛtti. Those who, having satisfied the trustees with regard to their qualifications, gained admission to the Bhaṭṭavṛtti were to reside for a period of three years in the maṭha raised by the donor on the shore of a tank dug out by her, and during the period of their residence, they were apparently to impart instruction in their respective subjects to pupils selected by them after a preliminary examination (parīkṣai koṇḍu apūrriḷukkē paṇippadāgavum). Not only does this inscription throw much welcome light on the state of higher learning at the time, but it furnishes a model for the administration of higher education which many a modern university of our country might envy.