Studies in Cola History and Administration c9.1

c9.1

We shall study briefly the practical working in the Coḷa period of the assembly (Sabhā) of one of the Brahmadēya villages of the Tanjore district. This study is based on the evidence of contemporary inscriptions which give interesting details of the economic and social life of the village and of the part played by the assembly in it. The name of the village as it occurs in the inscriptions is Nālūr, a Brahmadēya in Śērrūr-kūrram in the Kṣatriya-śikhāmaṇi-vaḷanāḍu, a name applied to N.E. part of the modern district of Tanjore.* In a comparatively early Rājakēsari inscription, the village is called Paḷaiyaśembiyan-mahādēvi-caturvēdi-maṅgalam on the southern bank, apparently of the Kāvēri. In later inscriptions the village gets another name as well, and that is Vāṇavaṇ-mādēvi-caturvēdi-maṅgalam; † it is not possible to say if this name is derived from that of Parāntaka II Sundara Coḷa's queen Vāṇavaṇmahādēvi who is known to have performed suttee on his death, or from that of some other Coḷa queen; it does not appear in records till late in the reign of Kulōttuṅga I. The village has been identified, very plausibly, with Tiru-Nālūr-Tiru-mayāṇam of the hymns of the great Śaiva saint Tirujñānasambandar. ‡ This identification gains support from the name of one of the temples repeatedly mentioned in the inscriptions, viz., Tirumayāṇam-uḍaiya Paramasvāmin.* The name of the village from which these inscriptions come, Tirumeyñāṇam, is a palpable corruption of the more ancient form Tirumayāṇam; and the occurrence of this name with Nālūr in our records leaves no room to question its identity with the shrine celebrated by Sambandar. It is situated within ten miles to the S. E. of Kumbakōṇam. †