Studies in Cola History and Administration c13.s4: B—Translation
Studies in Cōḻa History and Administration c13.s4
- Language
- English
B—Translation
c13.s4.1
*ll. 1-2:* Hail! Prosperity! On the sixteenth day of the fourteenth year of king Parakēsarivarman who captured Madura—We, the members of the *Sabhā* of Uttarameru-caturvēdimaṅgalam in its own subdivision (*kūṟu*) of Kāliyūrkkōṭṭam,—a gracious letter of His Majesty, our Lord śrī Vīranārāyaṇa śrī Parāntakadēva śrī Parakēsarivarma having been received and shown to us, and in accordance with (that) letter, Karañjai Koṇḍaya Kramavitta-bhaṭṭan alias Sōmāsiperumān of śrī Vaṅaganagar in Puṟaṅgarambaināḍu of the Śōḷanāḍu, sitting (with us) by order,—(we) made the following settlement with a view to appointing as vāriyam (committees), every year from this year onwards, (the following) (viz.), the annual committee, garden committee and tank committee.
c13.s4.2
*ll. 2-3:* There being thirty *kuḍumbus* (wards), in (each of these) thirty wards, the people of the ward concerned shall assemble, and shall write on pot-tickets (the names of) those who own more than one-fourth *nilam* of taxable land, reside in houses built on their own sites, are below seventy and above thirty-five years of age, know the *Mantrabrāhmaṇa* and possess experience of teaching it.
c13.s4.3
*ll. 3-4:* Though owning only an eighth of a *nilam*, if a person is competent in one Vēda and possesses experience of expounding one of the four *bhāṣyas*, he shall also have his name written on the pot-ticket and put (into the pot).
c13.s4.4
*l. 4:* Even among these, only persons who are proficient in (general) affairs and conform to proper conduct (*ācāram*) shall be taken. Those who have material and spiritual purity, and have not done vāriyam this side of three years shall be chosen.
c13.s4.5
*ll. 4-6*: Anyone who has done any *vāriyam* (before) and failed to show accounts, and his relatives as specified herein shall not have their names written on pot-tickets and put (into the pot)—(viz.,) the sons of the younger and elder sisters of his mother; the sons of his paternal aunt and maternal uncle; the brother * of his mother; the brother of his father; his own brother; his father-in-law; the brother of his wife; the husband of his sister; the sons of his sister; the son-in-law who has married his daughter, his father and his son.
c13.s4.6
*l. 6*: Those against whom incest or the first four of the five great sins are recorded and all their relations as specified hereinbefore shall not also have their names written on pot-tickets and put (into the pot).
c13.s4.7
*ll. 6-7*: Those who have fallen by association (with sinners) shall not have their names written on pot-tickets till after they perform expiation.
c13.s4.8
*l. 7*: * * Those are who are violent shall also not have their names written on pot-tickets and put (into the pot). Those who have stolen others' property shall not also have their names written on pot-tickets and put (into the pot).
c13.s4.9
*ll. 7-8*: Those who, after partaking of any forbidden dish, have become pure by performing the ghee expiation (?), shall not also, to the end of their lives, have their names written on pot-tickets for the committees to be put (into the pot).
c13.s4.10
*ll. 8-9*: Those who have become pure after performing expiation for * * sins, those who have become pure after performing expiation for having turned
c13.s4.11
∗ The word used in the text is *uḍappiraṇdan*; Venkayya's translation 'uterine brother' is a curious mistake. Though the singular is used in some of these phrases, no doubt the plural is meant.
c13.s4.12
enemies of the village (*grāmakaṇṭaka*), and those who have become pure after performing expiation for incest—all these persons shall not, to the end of their lives, have their names written on pot-tickets for committees to be put (into the pot).
c13.s4.13
*l. 9:* Excluding all these persons specified above, names shall be written for pot-tickets in all the thirty wards; and in these twelve *śēris*, separate covering tickets (*vāyōlai*) shall be attached for each separate ward, and (the tickets of) the thirty wards shall be separately bundled and put (into the pot).
c13.s4.14
*ll. 9-11:* When pot-tickets are (to be) drawn, the members * of the *Mahāsabhā*, young and old, shall be assembled at a full meeting, and the temple priests (*nambimār*) who happen to be in town on the day shall, without any exception, be caused to be seated in the inner *maṇḍapa* (pavilion) in the *Mahāsabhā*; among the temple priests, an old priest shall stand up and, looking upwards, shall hold the pot so as to be seen by all people; (the bundle of) one ward shall be caused to be taken out by a boy who cannot see the difference (between things) even by day, and it shall be put into another pot and shaken, and one ticket shall be drawn out of that pot and placed in the hands of the arbitrator (*madhyusha*).
c13.s4.15
*l. 11:* When the *madhyastha* receives the ticket thus given, he shall receive it in the palm of his hand with his five fingers spread out. And he shall read (out) the ticket he has so received. The ticket so read shall be read also by all the temple priests in the inner pavilion. The name so read shall be written down. In this manner, one name shall be obtained from each of the thirty wards.
c13.s4.16
∗ *Tiruvaḍiyār* seems only a respectable reference to the general body
c13.s4.17
*ll. 11-12*: Out of the thirty names so got, those who have served on the garden committee and the tank committe and those who are advanced in learning or in age shall form the annual committee.
c13.s4.18
*l. 12*: Of the rest, twelve shall form the garden committee. The remaining six shall form the tank committee. These two committees shall be formed by showing the *karai* (?). The members of the three kinds of committees that perform *vāriyam* shall do (their duties) for full three hundred and sixty days and then retire.
c13.s4.19
*ll. 12-13*: Anyone who is found guilty among those who are serving on the committees shall be removed (forthwith).
c13.s4.20
*l. 13*: (For) the committees to be appointed after the retirement of these, the members (*vāriyar*) who superintend charities in the twelve *śēris* shall themselves cause the assembly to be convened by the *madhyasthas*. The committees shall be appointed only by drawing pot-tickets in accordance with this deed of settlement.
c13.s4.21
*ll. 13-14*: For the *pañcavāra* committee and the gold committee, names shall be written for pot-tickets in all the thirty wards, and thirty bundles with covering tickets shall be put in, and thirty tickets drawn, from which again twelve names shall be drawn.
c13.s4.22
*l. 14*: Of these twelve so drawn, six shall form the gold committee, and six the *pañcavāra* committee.
c13.s4.23
*ll. 14-15*: When drawing pot-tickets in the following year for these committees, the *karai* shall be drawn only among the wards that remain after excluding those that served on these committees before (in the preceding year).
c13.s4.24
*l. 15*: Those who rode on asses, and those who forged documents shall not have their names written on pot-tickets to be put (into the pot).
c13.s4.25
*ll. 15-16*: Among *madhyasthas*,* only a person possessing material purity (*arthaśaucam*) shall write the accounts.
c13.s4.26
Until after a person who maintained accounts submits accounts along with the accounts-committee of the *Sabhā* and is declared pure, he shall not enter on (maintaining) other accounts.
c13.s4.27
A person who has been maintaining accounts shall himself submit his accounts; other accountants shall not enter and close them.
c13.s4.28
*ll. 16-17*: We, the members of the assembly of Uttarameru-caturvēdimangalam,—having been shown the gracious royal letter received from the lord of the gods, the emperor, the lover of scholars, the wrestler with elephants, the crest-jewel among heroes, the emulator of the *Kalpaka*, śrī Parakēsarivarma; Karañjai Koṇḍayakrama-vitta Bhaṭṭa *alias* Śōmāśiperumān of śrī Vaṅganagar in Puṟaṅgarambai-nāḍu of the Śōḻa-nāḍu, sitting with us by order and causing us to make this settlement—(we) made this settlement for the prosperity of our village and for the destruction of the wicked and the increase of the rest, viz., that in this manner, from this year as long as the sun and the moon last, we shall always appoint only pot-ticket-committees.
c13.s4.29
*ll. 17-18*: I, the *madhyastha*, Kāḍaḍippōttaṉ Śivakkuri Rājamalla-maṅgalapriyan, wrote this settlement in this wise to the dictation of the members (*perumakkaḷ*) sitting in the assembly (*kuṟiyuḷḷirundu*).
c13.s4.30
∗ The text is *madhyasthar-um*, read *uḷ*.