Studies in Cola History and Administration c12.54

c12.54

‘B’ *l. 3*: *mantra-brāhmaṇam vallān ōduvittarivāṇai*: This expression takes the place of *vēdattilum śāstrattilum kāryattilum nipuṇar eṇṇappaṭṭiruppārai (l. 4)* of ‘A.’ The statements in this record concerning the qualifications of persons eligible for service on committees, the classes of persons who shall be excluded from such service and the period of such exclusion are very clear and definite. The qualifications include conditions regarding age, property and learning, besides general ability and character. The phrase now under consideration makes the educational qualifications more definite than before. To say that a person must have a reputation for being learned in the Veda and the Śāstra, as ‘A’ said, was to give no clear indication of the standard of learning that entitled a man to have his name included among the pot-tickets. This question of the exact standard of learning implied in the original rule was, we may presume, much canvassed among the meticulous *vaidiks* of Uttaramērūr. As a result, the standard was carefully laid down. Ordinarily a candidate had to know the *mantra-brāhmaṇa*¹ and possess experience in expounding it. It may be recalled here that, in a similar context, the Mānūr inscription requires candidates to possess a knowledge of *mantra-brāhmaṇa* and one *dharma*.