STATE FORMATION IN

SOUTH INDIA, 850-1280/ 163

nodels focus on the relation: of state institutions with local and

These
of power, and their ultimate relationship with forms
Chapter Five intermediate
arenas

duction and contr of resources in an agrarian world.' The models

the nature of the relationship between royal administrative
disagreeon
State Formation in South India. organs, h o however defined,
and intermediate or local power-holders. Earlier
holars stressed central bureaucratic power, students of feudalism have
850-1280 ctressed independent,
intermediate political offices,' and proponents of
state have stressed local authorities." Each model takes its
rhe segmentary

IHermann
Kulke has discussed the three main models of pre-modern South Asian
JAMES HEITZMAN Versus Integration? Reflections on
historiography in Fragmentation and degmentation
of Indian Feudalism and the Segmentary State in Indian History, Studies
the Concepts
no. 2 (1982), pp.
237-54. See Heitzman, 'Socio-Economic
also James
in History, vol. 4,
South Asia: Case Studies and Methodology, Peasant Studies,
The present study utilizes inscriptional records from the Chola period Formations in Pre-modern
47-60.
(AD 849-1279) in South 1India in order to address several majorproblems vol. 13, no. 1 (Fall, 1985), pp.
2 R.C. Majumdar (ed.), The History and
Culture ofthe Indian People, vol. 2 (Bombay,
connected with Chola kingship in particular and with early Indian polities Nilakantha Sastri (ed.), A Comprehensive HistoryofIndia, vol. 2
1951), pp. 303-34; K.A.
Sadashiv Altekar, The Rshtrakiütas and Their Times
(G) What were the mechanisms evolved by kings to exert their (Calcutta, 1957), pp. 50-66; Anant
in general: (Poona, 1934), pp. 174-6; Krishna Murari,
7The Clukyas of Kalyni (from circa 973 AD
authority over relatively large areas and disparate human groups? (i) To Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decláne of the
to 1200 D) (Delhi, 1977), pp. 191-8;
relation Indian versions
what extent did the authority of kings vary over distance and in Mauryas (Delhi, 1961), pp. 98-123.
Burton Stein has summarized South
socio-economic organization? (m) Order in Medieval South India: A
to local conditions of geography and this historiography in The State and the Agrarian
of on South India (New
Delhi,
What was the relationship between royal political systems and
local or Historiographical Critique', in Burton Stein (ed.), Essays 1980),
in Medieval South India (Delhi,
19/), Pp. 65-9; Peasant State and Society
intermediate powers? PP. 254-64.
Iwill describe the early state as a problem in intermediate autnorny India (Delhi, 1959),
Sharma, Political Ideas and Institutions Ancient
in
Kam Sharan
Sudras in Ancient Indi4
that is, an attempt to unite large numbers oflocalized social and econom Indian Feudalism: c. 300-1200 (Calcutta, 1965);
Pp. 199-230; to circa AD 600 (Delhi,
1980), pp. 171, 192-3,
units within varying ecological niches into overarching systems ofpout 0al History ofthe Lower Order Down Delhi, 1985),
Perspectives in Socialand Economic History ofEarly India (New
control through the creation or remodelling of mediating social insu of Peasant Studies, vol.
12,

is to view king PP48-56; How Feudal was Indian Feudalism?' Journal and Civilisasion ofAncient
tions or communications. The goal of this description 3 (1985), pp. 33-6; D.D. Kosambi, The Culeure
sociery and 192-8; Ganesh Prasad Sinha, Post
classes of an
agranaorgan storical Outline (New Delhi, 1981), pp.
as agency representing the dominating
an
economic Polity (aD 500-750): A Study of the Growth Yadava, of Feudal Elements
and
reuaat
but challenging, through its impac on political and for
Admir 198-219, B.N.S.
'Secular Land Grants
or

(Calcutta, 1972),
tion, the positions of dominant groups. The methodology employ D. 1o pp. in Northern
ableso f
Growth of Feudal Complex
over vari Indis pta P'eriod and Some Aspects of the in Ancient India, Len
this studyutilizes and strict controls
descriptive statist highest
Ad D.C. Sircar (ed.), Land Sstem and Feudalism and Seminars
1-5 no.
at the Lectures
institutions and Culture,
time and
space in order relate changesiin s t a t e
to
ginlocal
(Calcutt i n Ancient Indian History
levels to changes in the productive and extractive modes opea (Calcutta, 1966), pp. 72-94. in RichardG. Fox
4Burton
Real
Stein,h e Segmentary State in South IndianS.C.,History,
environments. ed.), in Traditional India (Durham,
1977); Peasant oa
Socieny " Region
formation-bl India (Delhi, 1980), Pp. 101-9, 154-40 India', Journal of
nodern o u r hAsia.
The study addresses three models of state
Poli Medieval South Medieval
Segmentary and feudal-that portray the state in pre- Otics, Peasants and the Deconstruction of Feudalism in
and Economy
Re
tasant Studies, vol. 12, nos 2 and 3. PP. 61-5; 'State Formation

393-400; Kennetn
Carol Breckenridge
considered', M Astan Studies, vol. 19, part 3 (July 1985), pp.
Acknowledgements Many thanks to David Ludden and
carlier drafts of this paper and made helpful comments.
 IN INDIA 1000-1700
164/ THE STATE
STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 165
approaches to time and
with diterent
position space. The
approachis the most static, since it posits little structural
reaucratic analyses impossible i

and
and imore fragmentary.
rareas of early South Asia for which data
The rich
motivation for change, from the time of the Mauryas or
s c a r c e r

Chola-period data mav

turies BC) until the Muslim invasions of the eleventh (tourth-third cen-
cer
are
hts that may then be extrapolated to other areas
oro-

of South India
of Burton Stein century and outh-Asia as a whole, where historical sources are less plentiful for
beyond. The segmentary state
xplicit references
to spatial variability, Since it originates and tlourishes in 'nucle
or

carly times.

peasant farming communities

within irrigated zones as distine cfrom
non-irrigated, drier zones; ritual control becomes more tenuo
AREAS IN THE CHOLA HEARTLAND
increasing distance from the nuclear zones, exhibiting central with THE STUDY
inter-
peripheral forms of
mediate and political authoriry.3 The dynamisf
systemic change over time are not as clear as spatial dynamics in th
The cources for the Chola-period history are inscriptions found almost

segmentary model. Feudalism, on the other hand, offers a clear-cut chrn entirely_on the stone walls of temple structures in Tamil Nadu and
surrounding states. 1hese records describe gitts to Brahman communities
nological progression, trom the crisis of an ancient socio-economic and
and to temples in order to support ritual pertormances. Because almost
political formation in the early Christian era through subsequent frage all inscriptions contain briet or lengthy preambles mentioning the reign-
mentation of state rights. The feudal hypothesis remains weaker in i
spatial aspects, since teudal' relations may be described almost anywhere
ing king and his regnal year, approximately 90 per cent of the records
engraved during the period of Chola hegemony may be dared with great
in early South Asia, poorly articulated with local modes and relations of
accuracy.
production. For purposes of statistical aggregation, theinscriptions fall into four
In the following discussion, I will address the central problem of
sub-periods, each lasting abour a century, and conforming to discernible
historical models of pre-modern state formation-the articulation o changes in the political fortunes of the Chola dynasty and the formats of
central. intermediate and local authority-within parameters
that explain therecords themselves. Sub-period one (849-985) saw the rise of the
spatial variabiliry and temporal change. The Chola dynasty is the choice Chola dynasty within the central area of modern Tamil Nadu, with their
tor this case
study because the numerous records of the Chola period capitals at Tañjvür and Palaiyäru within the Kaveri river delta. Most
amounting to over 10,000 inscriptions, provide data that allow statst nscriptions during this time were short, concentrating on gits of per-

petual lamps to temples in memory of deceased relatives.Sub-period rwo

Hall, 'Peasant State and Society in Chola Times: A View from the liruVI -1070) began with the accession of the greatest of the Chola kings,
Urban Complex', IESHR vol. xvi1, nos 3 and 4 82), pp. 393-6; R. Champ
kalakshmi, "Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India: A Review A r t e n
IESHR
dt e
4jaraja , who extended Chola military power throughout Tamil Nadu
and Over
vol.XV1, nos 3 and 4, pp. 411-26; Venkata Ragotham, 'Religious e Kumaa
much of peninsular India. Under his immediate successors
Legtumations of Power in Fourteenth Century South India: A stu Studies in

Nampana's Politics of Intervention and Arbitration', in Madhu >enPeasant Historyn Wetmust note the peculiar nature of the inscriptional record, which is predominantly
and Change (New Delhi, 1983), pp. 150-66; David Ludden, ofo records of donations for deities. On one hand, the inscriptions are a goldnmine
Kelhgion
South India (Princeton, economic organization,
which
1985), pp. 26-40, 204. around
com
c o m m o n

Cmerges oh ntemporary social, political and record religious

Stein describes
nuclear areas as nadus, or agrarian zones c l u s t e r e d and
yand in a
pristine form, from deeds that ostensibly
(PeasantSae ton.On the other hand, the necessity of concentrating historical inquiry on temple
tionfacilities and containing distinct social or kinship
nip zones
zones Pulial
ecords
0ciety 90-140). His interpretations rest on the work or
pp.
ayalu,
only constantly focuses attention on a torum that was certainly important,
but probably
Siuder

the single
a
ot human activity.
Even within
eography of the Chola Country, Madras, 1973, pp. 19-55: "The ColaStare the
world of environment within a much larger universe view ot the large
History vol. 4, no. 2 (July-Dec. 1982), p. 275. State in MGs
temple
umber of socialP records, accidents of history have leftof
v limited us a
ln
IESHR
transactions
present study, then,
C i o n s occurring in the
environs religious institutions. the
Sugsestions of the 'proto-feudal' character of the Saciety,
in
of samples that
central
represent
historical

varayanans review of Noboru Karashima's

South Indian ftn JrOY
and processe
Dut do not
aalyse samples
vol. XXII, no. 1 exhaust te potential for alternative soCtat
(Jan.-March 1985), pp. 95-10
 IN INDIA 1000-1700
166/THE STATE
STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 167
Chola military expeditions travelled as far as the Ganga tiven
Asia and Sri Lanka. Inscriptions during this time became
and often included poetic preambles (pra[asti, meykkirt more detailed
Southeast
chronological order the accomplishments of the kings. Suher in
(1070-1178) began with the accession of Kulottunga . wh d three
the thrones of the Chola empire and the kingdom of the Ea Cha-
ited
hvas in modern Andhra Pradesh. Despite the union of two maior
entered a period of slow decline royal
lineages, Chola military power
tions from this time contain increasing intormation on land
Inscrip-
transacr actions Tirukkoyilur
During sub-period four (1178-1279) the Chola dynasty collapsed. Th Pennai R.
Pandya dynasty based in the southern town of Madurai, the Hoal
dunasty from modern Karnataka and local chiets from northern Tamil
Nadu divided up the Chola realm. Inscriptions record increasing land
transactions and greater numbers of local leaders arrogating to themselves
Scale
high titles and local powers.3
10 20 40 Kilometres
The present approach, building on the lead of Karashima others
and
concentrates on five discrete study areas, each containing large numbers Kollidam
R

of individual villages, each representing varying ecological.,political and

historical features characteristic of the Chola polity (see Map 1). The Kavei R.

study areas lie within the traditional 'circle of the Cholas (Cholaman-
dalam), where we may expect the fullest possible record of political
lie Kumbakonam
processes featuring the Chola kings. (i) Modern Kumbakonam taluk
in the very centre of the Chola polity, near the capital of Palaiyaru,always
controlled by the Chola dynasty. Its economy was, and is, oriented to
systems dependent on
tne Tiruchirappalli
production of rice through artificial irrigation
Kaveri river and its effuents. (ii) Tiruchirappalli taluk lies on the soutnc
ation
bank of the Kaveri river, where ands benefiting from riverine irrgae
of
have
er
Tirutturaippundi
supportred a rice economy
important temples headed by the sacred
and, in the Chola period, nut
Srirangam. This area
a
Was

Pudukkottai
India
The standard histories are K.A. Nilakantha Sastri, The Cölas A History of So
173-210, 1.V
from Prehistoric Times to
of Vijayanaga ondon, 1958),8 pp.
the Fall four-part
Sadasiva Pandarathar, Pirkalac 61). The
cölar varalru (Annamalainagar Karashima, and Y.Sub
im
chronology used here appears first in B. raman,
Noboru
ofAian
barayalu, A List of the Tamil Inscriptions of the Chola Dynasty». Y. "nal
and
Subbarayaluand
Velar R
African Studies(Tokyo), 11, 1976, p. 89; Noboru Karash in
no. 1978),,
Toru Matsui, A Concordance of the Names in the 1adurai,

Cola Inscription chirappalu Ditrh

1. The Five Study Areas in Cholamandalam.
9
Noboru Karashima (ed.), ThoP
Socio-CulturalChange in Villages in T t h I n d i a n Hinog

Soun
Set
mapP shows the study areas in relation
to the modern

4 , ndia, part 1, Pre-Modern Period (Tokyo, 1983); state of Tamil Nadu in India.
0cIery: Studies from
Inscriptions, aD 850-1800 (Delhi, 1984)
 1000-1700

168/ THE STATE

IN INDIA STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 169
traditional part of the Chola homeland, but Pandya and Hou ala influence nlav
five areas disp asomewhat similar continuum from those zones
became more important as the Cholascollapsed after 1200.1 closer
Tirut- tot h e
n re of the Chola political system and controlled the
by Chola
the Ocean to the southeast.
taluk lies the tail
at
kings far longer periods, to the
near
turaippundi for longe outy1ng zones where political fortunes
channels carry1ng Kaveri river water. This aarea i end of and distance from the centre contributed to shorter
the irrigation
backwater, always integrated within th0od periods of control by
example of a political the Chola kings.
empire but having no impact on political atfairs. (iv) Tirukko hola
taluk
has a mixed economic base, with a zone of rice cultivation conce
Centrated TABLE 1
along the banks of the Pennai river and around scattered tanks farther
CHARACTERISTICS OF FIVE STUDY AREAS
away from
the river, but with large expanses of poorly-watered d
of millets and animal husbandry. Thic Agrarian Relationship to Period of Tntegration
supporting the cultivation Study Area
characteristics of a march or border on the northern edge of ha Ecology Political Centre Wihin Chola Polity
had the
Chola heartland. In the tenth century
it was brietly overrun
by Rashtra Kumbakonam taluk wet central c.850-1279
the northwest, and in the early thirteenth century it fell Tiruchirappalli taluk wet central c.850-1250
kuta armies from
under the control of the rebellious KopperuñcinkaF, whose kidnapping Tirutturaippundi taluk wet/dry intermediate c.850-1279
of Rajarja Chola IlI signalled the collapse of the Chola political order Tirukkoyilur taluk dry/wet peripheral c.880-950
of modern Pudukkottai district lying
(v) Pudukkottai refers to the area 975-1220
north of the Vellar river, the traditional southern boundary Cholaman- of Pudukkottai dry peripheral c. 880-1220
natural access to major
dalam. This southern march of the Cholas had no
scene of dry cultivation
riverine sources for irrigation and remains the The methodology for this study involved the collection and reading
and agriculture centred on scattered man-made
lakes. The Cholas con of all extant Chola-period inscriptions from the five study areas, the
the late ninth century, but the state formation within
quered this area from the Pandya rulers in compilation of references to key terms relatingto
1220. the collected inscriptions and the breakdown of the distribution
resurgent Pandyas took over again after about
continuum
firequen-
The five study areas exhibit an ecological and agricultural cies of those terms within the four sub-periods of the Chola period."
aval-
taluks, with good Changes in the distributions of the terms within the five study areas and
ranging from Kumbakonam and Tiruchirappalli
intermediate or mixed z0nes over time suggest relative differences in political integration which may
ability of irrigation waters, through the more
taluks, to the relativey then be correlated with the ecological, political and historical charac
exemplitied by Tirutturaippundi and Tirukkoyilur
and historically,t the
eristics of the different areas. The terms chosen for analysis reter toover
dry zone of Pudukkottai (see Table 1).12 Politically
and the royal and control
1950),
ung family,
local property rights.
officials of the king, taxation
0K.R. Venkataraman, The Hoysalas in the Tamil Country (Annamalaina (London,

PP.7-18;). Duncan, M. Derrett, The Hoysalas: AMedievalIndian Koyut r Pp 124 pmen, Indian Geographical Journal,vol. 58, 1 (1983). pp. 29-46; Bewäserung
no.

1957) Pp. 105-28; Nilakantha Sastri, The Pándyan Kingdom (Madras, 7 13chafi im Cauvery-Delea (Südindien) (Wiesbaden, 1981), pp. 10-58.containing
37 1965),
study
referencePd inscriptions' are all extant records from the fiverecords
areas
(Madas,
Altckar, pp. 115-19; S.R, Balasubrahmanyam, Kopperuhcinkan
period 849I7 ngs and/or regnal years that situate those
within the time

P.14-15. 124-37; Nilakandha Sastri, 7he Cilas pp. 128-34,4Tamil Nadu,

see
David
Rashtrakuta inscriptions and
Also included within the data base are taluk and pre-1250 records
ofCPandyaninscriptions
IESHR, vol. xVh
For an historical characterization of wet and dry in zones

iew',
of Kopperucinkan
from Tirukkoyilur ta
LAudden, Patronage and Irrigation in Tamil Nadu: A Long-term v Chs or following
tollowing
Hoys kings from Tiruchirappalli taluk and Pudukkortai. The under
no. 3
July-Sept, 1979), pp. 349-65; Peasant History in South India
pp.
81-94;

discussic of the records inscribed the

royal fami and officials utilize only the
vadu Counryi

topher John Baker, An Indian Rural Economy 1880-1955: The an A authority of the
entire data base. kings. The later discussions of and property
tax
terms utilize
tne

(Delhi, 1984), Delta:

and» R u r a l Unde a l
pp. 22-34; Hans-Georg Bohle, 'The Cauvery
nto the nt
History and Determinants of Agrarian Development
 1000-1700
IN INDIA
170/ THE STATE STATE FORMATIQN IN SOUTH INDIA, 850-1280/ 171

AND THE ROYAL FAMILY 4G

THE KING
Paval orders occur in altered Contexts featuring direct royal inter-
ference into local temple affairs. A standard scenario for the issuance of
in the Chola-perind :
The kings personally appear very rarely a royal order begun vith the presentation of an official request (vinn-
In a few records pious donors instituted rituals for the
well-b-being or criptions. appamby a person bearing high honorific titles, typically asking permis-
that some localiti
success of the king, indicating were
officially
.14 In one cas Con-
cerned with the ruler's illnesses or military adventures, 14 In e sion for the.deferment of taxes on agricultural land and
their transfer for
the funding of ritual! at a ecific temple. The king hearing the request,
great Rajarja I appeared on a tour of inspection through the Tiruchin the
granted
permission for tax deferment and ordered that the official transfer
palli area, and in several cases the kings personally intervened in
o ftaxes to the temple beentered in the public records. Some

arbitrationof local disputes." But it

expand the concept of
we
e
inscriptions
appear to be word-for-wordtranscriptions of these interchanges, indicat-
royal
presence to include members of the Chola lineage, and especialy the ing t h a t t h e king was p e r s o n a l l y i n v o l v e d . "e T h e royal o r d e r was called

wives of the kings and princes,

we a
obtain larger population records
of
describing the activities of the royal house as a whole." Thepoliciesof thetirumukam or'sacred face ofthe king;when thewrittenform of a
OVal order reached local villages for implementation, village leaders
the Chola house fall into thetwo main categories ot donations and roval greeted and revered it as if it were the king himself." Descriptions of
orders. court procedures show that, in keeping with the quasi-sacred character
Donations include a number of gitts to temples by the king or other of the royal order, careful transcription and checking of the written forms
members of his family in order to institute and support Brahminical was the standard procedure.0 It seems certain that even those inscriptions
sacrifices and/or the worship of the god Siva. Most of these donations beginning with the simple phrase 'according to the royal order (tiru
were large giftssuch as ornate shrines, images and ornaments of precious mukattup pai) reflect the final, locally inscribed versions of a decision-
stones and metals to adorn images, and funds for the expensive and making process revolving around the king personally. It is doubtful
elaborate consecration ceremonies initiating temple worship. Even in this whether the ceremonial issuance of the royal order indicated in all cases
sphere the kings themselves appeared relatively infrequently, since queens royal control over local resources, since in many instances the official
orprincesses usually performed the honours. Theroyal family appears to equest by local leaders may have marked local initiatives with the simple
have been the major contributors of large-scale donations, when osten:
tatious public support of the moral universe, in the name of
acquiescence of the king.21 Nevertheless, the centrality of the ruler in
these transactions demonstrates a marked interest in, and ultimate control
person
piety, was the explicit message.7 over, the resource allocations associated with temples at the local level. In

14 tia
Sil 23: 252; IPS 169; KK 128; ARE 1917: 280. Following are the compen orts on
11 in the five
published inscriptions used in this study, with their abbreviations: Annu mbers
study areas. of the
royal family outnumber donations by the kings 67 to

Epigraphy (ARE); Epigraphia Indica (El); Inseriptions of the Pudukonai aippunt

antai Kalvetukkal (KK); South Indian Inscriptions (SII); Iirin :723;7: 1012; IPS 141, 153; TK 39. Related phenomena are inscriptions
kalvettukkal (TK). All ARE references indicate unpublished records viewed inV. ranscript
t
Ramesh. ST he exact location of the king or queen during the issuing of a royal order:

o estampage form in the Epigraphy Office in Mysore. My thanks to r

1961-62; 8: 223; 23: 48, 272, 351; ARE 1921: 533; 1934-35: 184; 1937-38: 3, 21;
19%1 0 429.
e t Epigraphist, and his staff for their assistance in reading unpublshe a31 32:70 9
the order
SIT 23: 310; ARE 1908: 468; 1914: 109: 1918: 1; 1927: 229, 21 ** when lage leaders, along with the person requesting the royal order,
met

71. it arrived, placed it their heads show obeisance, and then circumambulated
in the on to
tated lands with the royal order, mounted on a female elephant (SII 3: 72; 25: 264%
George W. Spencer, 'When Queens Bore Gifts: Wom Temple Donors haeology:A
as
ARE 1931-32: 74).
Chola Period, in K.V. Raman
(ed.), Srinidhih: Perspectives on
1naa
and Culture (Madras, 1983),
pp. 361-73.
S778: 222, 223; ARE 1931-32: 74.
South
17Examples of the kings' donations include S/3: 276; 6: 28, 33; 25: a m i l yi n c l u d e

India',in J.F.Stein, 'All the King's Mana:. Perspectives South

Kingship in Medieval
on

Asia (Madison, 1978),

18,43. Important examples of donations byfemale members of the roya. 8 : 459. Donalo Pp. 136, 144-6.Richards (ed.), Ki and Authority in
SI3:
96; 4: 542; 8: 237; 13: 197; 23: 42; KK144, 147, 154; ARC
 *

Sub-period 1|
(849-985)
Z

2 e u w Sub-period 2
(985-1070)

8 - -aSu =Sub-period 3
o 8 070-1178)
O

(1178-1279)

(O

.
.

L
 INDIA 100-1700
174/ THE STATE IN STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH
INDIA, 850-1280 175

suggested that all:additional

terms were pure
model has nonorifics also appearing as donors in other areas of the Chola heart-
bestowed by the kings but empty of istrative functions utside perhaps pala
btlt

those
l a n d ,2 7

leaders.23 In the present

already performed by locality study I will. avoid close inspection of the circumstances in which all these 'officials'
and
these rwo extreme viewpoints concentrate instead on the more mited provides a composite picture of their functions. When the officials
group of terms that more obviously point to supervisory functions 24 appea cimply as donors in their own right, they acted as arbitrators
a c t simply

These functional terms are divisible into two general categories. did not
ocaldisputes, perhaps resolvi problems concerning amounts due to
The first group of terms appears at first sighttodenote persons n d from particular plots of land. lypically, an official came into a
whose
roles may well include participation within an articulated adminisrr
llace, investigated (aray relevant documents and heard relevant tes-
framework. A category ot men pertorming the settlement of the nad
in inscriptions of the tenth and eleventh centurie
rimony,and in the presence of local assembliesdelivered ajudgement
hat had the force of law. With very few exceptions, all persons bearing
(nätu vakai ceykinra)
is reminiscent of the more recent officials who compiled 'settlements of unctional titles who. performed such investigations-nadu settlement
land revenue in British India. In a typical example, the 'chief superintend performers, adhikäris, senapatis-seemed to act either on their own in-
ant (kankni nyakan) called together temple officials at Tirunamanallur itiative or with a generalized fiat from the Chola king, and had no
to determine the amounts due annually from several villages and as-
apparent relationship with royal administrative machinery or with stand-
semblies, and the requisite allocations for temple deities. There are also ardized procedures. There was a body of persons bearing these titles
administrators' (adhikri) appearing at court and also in more outlying congregated at the royal court, and it appears that as local disputes arose
areas, taking care of a variery of supervisory tasks, along with 'leaders of and came to the court's attention someone from this floating body of
For example, a record from Tiruvidaimarudur loyal, honourable men would receive the commission to handle the
the army senpari ),
describes the intervention of adhikäri Cirrinkan uraiyp, the performer problem28 The various performers of tasks for the royal family fit the
of 'sacred work' (sri käryam) at the temple. He heard various arguments pattern ofa householdstaffrather than a ramified administrative organiza-
ordered tion. Investigation of these 'official' terminologies reveals, then, little
concerning the revenue obligations of the local community,
leaders to produce relevant documents, and on the basis of these records indication of a ramified bureaucratic system for ruling the Chola state,
adjusted the scale of allocations for worship.26 Then there are a number
butrather an 'extended court peopled by high-ranking associates of the
of persons associated with the retinue (parivram) of the king and the King, including the creatures of the king, scions of other noble tamilies
near tne allied to the Chola dynasty and close relatives of the royal family. Despite
royal tamily (e.g. pani makan, or 'work son'), concentrated ne rather ad hoc basis for the interventions of these royal representatives,
they did function as arms for royal penetration into local affairs and
2-
Krishnaswami Aiyangar, pp. 264-72, 376-7; Nilakantha Sastri, The Cölas, PP: erefore performed crucial roles for the extension of royal intluence
74:23Sadasiva Pandarathar, pp. 477-86; R. Champakalakshmi, pp. 415-7 outside the framework of a centralized bureaucracy.
Burton Stein, Peasant Stase and Sociery, pp. 270-
257- Concordance the Namt
Earlier studies inthis vein are Karashima, ct al., A of India of the king or other
Cola Inscriptions, vol.
1, pp. xlv-lvi; Y. Subbaray "The State in Medieval3South.
4-63,. 192
these persons are part of the 'entourage (parivaram)
13* d r s of the royal family (SI/ 5: 706, 723: 8: 234). Many of these persons appeara
O0-1350' (Ph.D. dissertation, Madurai Universiry, 1976), PP.
Kamaraj memorial lamps after the death of prince Räjditya in battle in 949
The Cola State', pp. 281-85; 288-91.
4 ARE 1939-40: 228. See also SII 7: 988; 8: 580 (a); IPS 90; 1ua
ofthe 954-66). Other
ne palace servants worked as dancers, waiting women or accountants
in

of the palaces (velam) in capital of the Cholas. Some of the

associates of the rulers
Archacological Society of South India, 1958-59, pp. 84-110.
26 SIl 3: 202, 203; SIl 5: 718. See also 17: 1000; 23: 225; IPS 234; 1*
Ppear as a

or friends' (saciva) of the kings;

these latter persons orten
L
Claim ranks es(4nukkan)
914: 6. M.T. Rajakumar has stressed the importance of these types of intervento araiyan higher
Ener than those of other palace includingservants,
titles of lordship

28 kaz udaiyän) (SI123: 243, 286, 339: ARE 1927: 336).

v i lp o r u l t ä r a

ocal decision-making for political unification under sacred kingship*led) (Madr These (utan Kujtat
atikarikal). courtiers
a
til aracia
panku', Cenkai mavatavaralärruk karuttaranku, R. wamy
are overlords who have joined cogether
the
1978), pp. 124-9. Naga
 O

(D

S a -a Sub-periodI
(849-985)

Sub-period 2
S (985-1070)

Sub-period 3
(1070-1178)|

8 8 SN
Sub-period 4|
(1178-1279)
 INDIA I000-1700 STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
178/ THE STATE IN 850-1280/ 179
for example, twenty-six records of. land. The purpose of such donations was to endow tax-free land for
Kumbakonam taluk. the
court in the tenth century declined to three records extended religiousinstituti. and the tax lists provide the names of
various cesses
while references to the
land revenue department simultaneouel thirteenth, defray for the purposes of religious sacrifice and
ar
worship,32 The fol
increased pursues the analysis of tax
from none to twenty-one.
The data in Table 3 portray the progressive replacement of
lowingdiscuss
e of any state's finances-by terminology-important
for
unders
defining major
categories
policies by those involyino more
n

arbitrary, occasional administrative tracing changes in the distribution of major tax terms over
time,
and fnally
penetration into local economy and the precise determination ofto studying the agencies most
likely to collect these ceses in
fina

Fights and their allocations through royal orders. During the early ststages different s t u d y areas.

of Chola rule, the more decentralized policies werein order, as thepolisr Two main divisions of land cesses existed during the Chola period
rested on the ritual supremacy of a generally distant king. After about elation to the processes of production and distribution of agrarian
1000. with the triumphs of Rajarajal, royal policies continuedto stress prod
dce33 (i) At the local level, a variety of duties were incumbent on
ritual leadership but began to subtly change the rules of the game by thecontrollers offlands to pay for the annual expenses associated with the
maintenance of irrigation tacilities and local processes of self-government
introducingtheland revenue departmentand royal orders morefrequent
ly intaTocal arenas. Ritual, arbitrational forms were thus the hallmark of within the villages. (ii) Beyond thelocal level there were demands from
early political integration, more centralized forms were the result of later superior agencies tor proportions of agrarian produce, in turn entailing

and more formalized central control. The data from Tiruchirappali taluk several kinds of exactions. Land taxes called kadamai were generally paid
in kind, according to schedules that were, at least in the central area of
provide the exception that proves the rule. Unlike the other study areas,
the Chola heartland, determinable by the land revenue department. Ad-
where manifestations of the extended court were decreasing by 1070, in
this area they increased dramatically. This phenomenon may be traced ditional payments in cash or kind were necessary to defray the expenses
dislocations connected with the accession of Kulottunga I and arising from the collection of land taxes, especially for the remporary
to
the maintenance of collection agents. The rwo main divisions of agricultural
concomitant incursions of the Hoysalas and Western Chalukyas into the
Tiruchirappalli area at that time.31 The renewed instability of the
west
*Ihese lists of terms only rarely provide hints concerning the meaning ofindividual
in an increase in
displays of ritual sovereignty around Srirangam,
resulted Cms, and much of the work done these terms has concentrated glossaries
on on or,

followed later in the rwelfth century by the increased presence ottheiat r recently large scale studies of their distributions: T.V. Mahalingam, Soush Indian
outy(Madras, 1954), pp. 421-8; T.N. Subrahmaniam, South Indiun lempie Inscrprionss
revenue department. The
segmentary state and the ritual poy
(Madras, 1953-57), part 2, Annexure; D.C. Sircar. Indian Epigraphical Gosar
aPpear as
stages in the political development which the Chola dynau i 66; Noboru Karashima and B. Sitaraman, 'Revenue Terms in Chola Inscrip-
took steps to abolish as far as they were able to, once their military con tions,
no. 5 (1972). pp. 87-117. See
was firmly established. The extent of the changes they were able to
ect 7lof Asianand AfricanSrudies,
Calas, Ch
also Nilakantha
and o
e pp. 520-45; P. Shanmugam. 'Revenue System undet
in h AD)' (Ph.D. disserration, University of Madras, 1977); R. Tirumala1, Stua
depended, however, on the distance from the centre ot the po
the military
strength of opposing monarchs. 3 TLis discussion
f Ancient Townships of Pudukkotai (Madras, 1981). pPp. 199-268;357-8.
passes over a variety of commercial cesses-significant transactons
in the
dynanmic economn
uy mercantile o f south India during the Chola period-levied on or collected

TAXES AND TAX concentrated5ps.n

mostly in
the five study areas, such commercial cesses appear rather rareiy
'Gifts of Power
ples, Politics and Tirukkoyilur taluk.
COLLECTORS See James Heitzman,
Economy in Medieval South iIndia'. (Ph.D. dissertation, Universiy
end
Pennsylvania,
commero 1985). pp.
PP 388-92. This concentration may
relate extended
to an

erms generally described as taxes (vari) usually appearin list duce Irom 4 d ali a
1.
network focused on Kanchipuram the north. See Kenneth
to
Hall,
1raa
Hal andtecrafi
C& in the Age of the Colas (New Delhi, 1980), pp. 83-97, 123-30; Kenneth
Or
inscriptions which record the transfer of rights to tne P
Center in Early
W.
ndia',C JournalSpencer,
of Urban"The vol. 6,ofno.Käñchipuram.
Economy
History, ASacred
2(Feb. 1980). pp. l28-).
31
Nilakantha Sastri, 7The
Colas, pp. 305-10.
 1000-1700
180/ THE STATE IN
INDIA
STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1 280/ 1811
in the categories of the 'upper with
cesses found expression .nal labour an element of

due to the superior agents,

comprising land taxes in kind
and collect (melväram local persor

Table 4).
The data on labou dues suggest a
supra-village
twelfth-century
control (see
decline in
expenses, and the "lower share (kilvram) retained by the controlle cihilities in relation to an increase in
the
local responsibilit.

involvement of
the land and used pay all cultivating expenses.34
to supra-village a g e n c i e s .

Aside from isolated and random reterences to fees for varins.

number of local TABLE 4
of village government," the largest ncerned
expenses for the annual or ocasional upkeep of irrigation fari so DISTRIBUTION OF MAJOR IAX TERMS IN FrVE STUDY AREAS
crucial for an economy dependent on water tor rice cultivationTerms
relating to irrigation dues carried with them connotations of local collec Tax terms
Sub-period 1 Sub-period 2 Sub-period 3 Sub-period14
tion and expenditure, at times in cash but mostly in personal abour; the (849-985) (985-1070) (1070-1178) (1178-1279)
25 11 8
frequency of these terms peaks in the records of the early twelfth century Eccoru
but declines thereafter.30 A separate ternm for "dues of cultivators' (kudi .08 .03 01 001

mai) refers to similar types of local personal labour, but occurs more Antarayam
2 5 35 38
often in contexts suggesting collection by superior agencies outside the .002 .01 06 .07
village: this term is rare in the early Chola period but becomes steadily 26 26 39 79
Kadamai
more frequent in later times.37 The use of the more generalized term .04 .06 07 .15
Viniyogam similarly increases which contextually includes the cesses for
General tax terms 1 32 32
34 These terms are rarely mentioned in the Chola-period inseriptions of the f udy .001 .06 06

areas, bur the existence of the broad divisions berween upper

and lower shares
Irrigation dues 38 45 57 7
well-known (and debated) in a number of studies and in modern parlance: A. Appadurai,
05 .11 .11 05
Economic Conditions in Southern India (1000-1500 AD), Madras, 1936, pp. 171-8
in
Nilakantha Sastri, The Cölas, pp. 522-7; Leonid Alayev, "The System of Land-Rights Kudimai 12 33 39
Southern India (900-1300 AD)', in Proceedings of the Fifih International Conference-Sem 001 .06 07
ar of Tamil Studies, vol. 2, part 14 (Madras, International Association of Tamil Research,
.03
in Southeast he ratios reter to the tax term to total inscriptions from each sub-period.
981), pp. 17-22; R. Tirumalai, pp. 204-6; Kathleen Gough, Rural Society
ndia (Cambridge, 1981), pp. 110-11, 152.
hese terms range from cessces for village government (ür cci, ur iu The single greatest demand for agrarian produce was theland tx
kajancu) or nadu government (näcci) to fees for plough teams (erp pon), ma amai ormore rarely irai39 It is currently impossible to determine the
randomy thro
Kannalak kanam) or legal expenses (vivastai ). The terms are scattered We
time and space, and there are not more than six references to
ual
any individu i
1scriptions
CCntage of the yield demanded as kadamai, but there was an attempt
in t h e eleventh century to standardize the evaluation and measurc
may asume that such local cesses were ubiquitous, but rarely crop up
O f rice land and to impose standard land tax rates in the areas around
because they were rarely defrayed
donation arrangements.
in
glossed
0 Terms for irrigation dues include several kinds of veti and vetiza
torced labour), kulai and kurampu (terms for embankments), ni" 38 There a
for the village, the Brahmin assembly and agricultural castes
(manual) amañci, muttaiyl and cutti. K132, 19nuyogams
190), (TK212; ARE
1927-28:2205). and
labour
5 Most occurrences of the term kudimai refer to labour services for local age See viniyogam
cesses

11, 35%; including

also iraja niyogam (SIuvariety localviniyogam
17: 540)ofand including kudimai
especially temples or other public buildings (e.g. SII 24: 58, 94; ARE 1927: . n u m b e r
and kadam (TK163).
327).
1931-32; 89). One instance records kudimai levied by the nadu The term kinds of
pay all
vical),

cs(e.g. SII kadamai rarely

A duty' to
describe kudimai going for 'the sacred victorious gate' (tiruk 24: 64; ANE
of reterences sense as a

24: 53). Iai takes the at times in

Kumbakonam taluk
meaning either the temple or the king's palace but probably the lat
90). place of kadamai
the place
P>
19
**

1917: 276). How or when

labour services for the
king entor were
**i
ARE 1917: 227) and often in Pudukkottai (e-g.
although periodic military or construction labour seems plaubsible.
 IN INDIA 1000-1700
182/ THE STATE STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 183
the Kaveri river. During the later centuries the growino irh collection by superior state agencies. As the term
nent was concerned primarily with the determination evenue A S S O C i a .

kudimai
me into more general use, increasing from one occurrence in the tenth
rates on agricultural land ot
Occurrences of the
various sorts. came

thirteenth
thirty-nine in the the
century, local terms
rwelfth century. Meanwhile, relative frequencies ofdeclined
to
ntury
cent
kadamai increase constantly in the inscriptions of the
Chola periodterm
the Chola
(see
he late twelftk
after the
late
the land
Table 4). Paralleling thisincrease was a rise in the occurrence ofa ax (kadamai) and other general tax terms (peruvari and viniyogam),
term for the "large tax peruvarn) which apPparently applies to th neral
orerogatives of the Chola kings, continually increased over
of the upper share or kadamai.4 r i n g by the thirteenth century in 15 per cent of all inscriptions.
time,
Expenses for the collection of superior taxation fell into the A consistent pattern emerges from he
study of major tax terms
concept of[eccoru, \a term reterring to various supplies of cooked early
rice during the Chola period, pointing toward a greaterconcentration of tax-
provided for officials.4 This term was prevalent during the early Chola collecting power in the hands of superior agencies and a decline in the
period but steadily declined over time (see Table 4). Simultaneously importance of cesses collected and ofticially controlled by village ad-
another term reterring to intermediate income (antaryam) steadily in- ministrations. These findings suggest an increasing_penetration of the
creased in frequency, contextually connected with several other words village environment by outside agencies officially subordinate to the Chola
suggesting expenses of the threshing floor and ratios of produce. The kings. A comparison ot tax developments with the changes in the actions
intermediate income was a tax in cash coupled consistently with the land of the Cholas themselves and the duties of their official representatives
tax in kind, and determined by the land revenue
department as part of supports the view of increasing royal authority and control of local
the share for the Chola kings.3 The decline of eccoru, a term
connoting agricultural environments after about AD 1000.
oCcasional provisions tendered in the village, relates to the rise of antar- Kumbakonam, Tiruchirappalli and Tirutturaippundi taluks, all par-
àyam, a cess linked to a more standardized and centrally managed tax
ticipating in various degrees in the irrigation economy connected with
structure. river water, provide
Table 4 portrays the frequencies of important tax terminology during
the Kaveri
of the Chola kings
indications that agencies other than
no

the four temporal divisions of the Chola period. The central changes in
those (especially the land department)
revenue were

incharge of thecollection oftaxes. Central royal control wastied tothe

taxation
during that time are visible by treating the six major terms as presence of the kings themselves and the concentration of their officials
threeseparate pairs. Eccoru and antaryam, referring to the expenses or withain the geographical area of the Kaveri river basin. This centrality of
Superior tax collection, show an obvious inverse relationship, witha steady State
control is less visible in the more outlying study areas.
decrease the of the nebulous and
in
frequency more perhaps occasio he lirukkoyilur area was the centre of operations for subordinate
eccoru cess and a steady increase in the frequency of antar yam, a s even at the dawn of written records, when Malaiyamäp chiets
determined by the revenue department of the Chola kings. A Im
relationship exists berween the aggregated terminology connected
with Cthere at the beginning ofthe Christian era and defied the ancient
a n d y a and Chera kings. During the late tenth century,as Raja-
local irtigation cesses and the term kudimai which was more closely
consolidated the empire, a family of Milädu chiets came to pOwer
Noboru Karashima, South Indian History and Society, pp. 940 tha Oyilur and retained local prerogatives in return forservice to
4 Whereas the term peruvari does not in the data base in
cur
that explain
contexts clola overlords. After 1070, the leaders of the Tirukkoyilur area
its
meaning, references to the paired term for 'small tax' (cilvari) often incluc descrip reinforces
MOr selves Malaiyamäp, hearkening back to the glories ot their
tions of other,
local cesses to the bitter
comprised within it. The term lower tax
a parallel berween large taxes as part of the upper share and sma" oart of te predecessors, and supported the Chola cause
an 2 5 0 . * 4 These latter Malaiyaman chiefs appear in numerous
lower
42
share (IPS 90; KK 72, 73, 74; ARE 1931-32; 93).
P.
43 Shanmugam, pp. 39-40. va, 44 S. Srinivasan,
the royal collection antai
of 1600' (Ph.D.
eitzman, Pp. 395-7.For references
dissertation, atak
Karr AStudy down to AD

SII 6: 33; 23: 49; ARE 1911:explicit

see
to of the History of Tirukkoyilur
211. University, Dharwad. 1980), pp. 117-19, 147 .
 INDIA 1000-1700
184/ THE STATE IN STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 185
collectors of special protection' taxes (
instances as
almost unknown from the other tour study areas pädikäva
during cesses It is pos ssible
now to discern three types of
supra-local
political auth-
period.45 In addition, several cases suggest that the Malaiyanman Chola eting with varying success for tax revenues extracted
ority competing with

collected land taxes (kadamai) and.other cesses family at village economies. At times of
imperial weakness, dry and from the
times elsew)
with the superior rights supposedly due to the kings.46 Ir anneahete
associated nes,
with their discrete and tank-irrigated
fragile economic bases, supported
emblies which balanced local na_är
political tensions and performed arbitra-
Chola kings made arrangements with locally powerful famil ies n the
the
Tirukkoyilur area, allowing a certain amount of local autonomy in finan
afunctions. The limited zones ot riverine irrigation around the
nai river supported the lineages which acted little dynasties,
Penna. as
ces in return for military support and the handling of local administrar ancient legends and the
com-
tration. plete with
:
poetic praises surrounding
ilies.0 The bigirrigation systems within the Kaveri river basin royal
In dry Pudukkottai to the south, some of the administrative fam-
and
tax-collecting activities elsewhere associated with the agents of the kine
the imperial Cholas, the biggest kings. The Cholas were
supported
of the so big that their
remained the responsibility nagtär, or
farge percentage of references to the nåtr
assembly of nadu leadets
within the five studyareas
military power and ritual pre-eminence overshadowed the outlying areas

of central Tamil Nadu. They destroyed for some time the effectiveness
comes from Pudukkottai alone, despite the fact that this area has
vielded of discrete ntr assemblies and reduced to subordination the
smaller
relatively few inscriptions. When the nar met together in Pudukkot
kings' of the smaller river systems. The boundaries of these three types
tai, they sometimes performed the arbitrational activities of
adhikäris or of political institutions were never fixed; the
allocated taxes in the manner of the land revenue department.8 But outlying parts
of the Chola

within Pudukkottai they did not always act in this way. Larger percentages
country experienced different
mixes of centralized,
chiefly or natar ad-
ministration, depending on the energy of the centre and the resistance of
of inscriptions refer to their activities in the tenth and thirteenth centuries,
thelocalities. In this way the Chola agents and the näär acted side-by-
with a distinct fall in references during the eleventh and twelfth cen- side in Pudukkottai, or Chola
agents,
nçr and Malaiyaman
chiefs acted
turies. It is surely no coincidence that the periods of their decline side-by-side in Tirukkoyilur taluk. The general tendency seen in the
correspond to the times of greatest Chola power, while the periods of variables of royal activity, official
presence and important taxation favours
their greatest visibiliry were times when royal authority was most tentative. a
period
The Chola of local
of increasing central dominance from at least 1000 to 1150, as
kings and their officials extinguished the primacy more 'segmentary' or feudal' political organizations succumbed to royal
assemblies when they consolidated power in the south, but as the Chola dominance. After 1150, the
kings and their administrative organs retreated the local assembies
political forms typical of local ecology and
economy re-emerged as significant arbiters of revenue allocation and
bounced back to establish their own local dominance. political power.
Y. Subbarayalu, "The State in Medieval South India', pp. 53-4; P. Shanmug
PP. 60-1; Karashima and study HANGING PROPERTY RELATIONS
Sitaraman, p. 91. Within the inscriptions ot tne -1070 IN THE CHOLA HEARTLAND
areas, reterences to pãdikval number 54, with 47 occurrences from the post
Tirukkoyilur taluk.
46
ARE 1906: 158; 1934-35: 135,
186, 190. follows
the L auses of the Cholacollapse were invasions by external enemies
Total numbers of as ofh as and Pandyas) and rebellions by chiefs in the northern parts
Chola-period inscriptions from the five study arca 1. Tiru
Kumbakonam the cLil country. But werethese sufficient causes for the decline ot
taluk-743;Tiruchirappalli taluk-541; Tirukkoyilur taluk-e data base
hola state? Evidence indicatestthat as time went on the Cholas were
Turappundi taluk-231; Pudukkottai-245. References to the ntar in
total 43; references to the nttàr from Pudukkottai alone number
48 SII 17: 462, 540; IPS
c e n t .

getting more effectively involved in local economic spheres and in the

125, 285. 9 8 5 , s e v e n t e e n

hirteen total references to nattar occur in records pre-dating power (985- 50 R

reterences
ocur in
recordspost-dating
1070) yields only five references 1178. The time of greatest land and agaswamy, Tirukköyilürppatu (Madras) discusses the extended praises of the
rulers of
to
naâr. Tirukkoyil in SII 7: 863.
 IN INDIA: 1000-1700
186/ THE STATE
STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 187
and central t a v .
orders
manipulation ot
increased in all
tax

study
revenues.

areas
Koyal
until the thirteenth centur
taxation generally atedtemple functions.n) Käni in land
appears in three
trated as usual in the
central areas ofthe
empire.
If the ugh con tn Donors possessed their own kaFi land, inherited it or
inance of To hird parties, or alienated it to
purchased
the Chola polity rested on the ability of the kings to direct.or religious institutions with all rights
then the very moment of its mediate to cultivation.3(4 land tax in kind is called käni kadan, or the 'dues
the allocation of local
resources,
collar from kaFi', indicating that royal cesses were
paradoxically the time ot its greatest central authority. The. pse was due from land that was
officially possessed by persons bodies.55
or
corporate
(tirunmattuk kni), (Temple
har had allowed the Cholas to dominate their neighbours for so ln lands
were property of
the name holy
failed them against those same enemieS. SOme weaknesses in that no tained at times
failure. through alienation of the rights of the donors described above, 6
base may have underlain this
Evidence from the inscriptions concerning property relations holds Several aspects of the term
käni indicate that it refers to the private
nroperty of individuals. Donors had the right to inherit, bequeath, alien-
the key to an understanding of the changing local power during the Chola
period and the infrastructural developments that actually weakened royal ate or subdivide their kaFi land. Possessors of kni in temples, typically
Brahmins, at times seem to have manipulated the land as their private
control as it expanded. The evidence concerns the frequent use of a crucial
property Taxation depended on payment by the official possessor of
term for control over property-kani.
käni land. Temples possessed kni lands in their own right as corporate
The term kâni, related to the verb 'to see (kan), has immediate owners. On the other hand, other contextual aspects of käni imbued the
connotations of overseeing some right or thing, and in later times referred
to possession, right of possession, hereditary right.1 Within the five
individual rights it conferred within a variery ofsocial duties. Occupa-
tional kapi and kFi in temples were contingentupon the performance
study areas, the term occurs within three main contexts: (i) Occupational
of public services, while kni in land necessitated the payment of taxes.
kani describes a situation in which property or possession entailed per-
Official title to land also masked a variety of social limitations on in-
formance of a specified dury within a village or a temple. The relatively initiative. Privately possessed holdings were shares (pangu) within
few extant reterences to this type of right point to ageneralcustomof
dividual
Village communities dominated by assemblies of village notables who
granting village lands as the property of occupational specialists often made collective decisions over land use, including at times the
accountants, security personnel, musicians, doctors-conditional upon essential questions of irrigation waters, agricultural labour or cropping."
the pertormance of their duties.32 (ii) Käni in temples reters to tne
nheritance customs put forward a single person as the official possessor
enjoyment of properties or prerogatives as a member of the temple stau
The performance of rituals or administrative tasks inaremple depe ossessors of these rights are typically called the 'Siva Brahmans possessing kani
total
on the support of personnel through grants of temple lana 4aiya civapirämmanar) in Chola-period inscriptions. There are titry-SEx
instances of these terms in the data base.
remained the personal property of the holders as long as they perto in
Ypical transfer of käni, a Brahmin assembly sold waste land (pl) their
with crops of
Tamil Lexicon, p. 859; Noboru Karashima, Soush Indian his certain T'anttoam udaiyF, who enjoyed the land as his käni,
ther recent discussions of the term kni
Hisor ana The if
are contained in Peter A. ura
SSC, paying kadamai and kudimai taxes (SII 23: 303).
her are titteen total references to data base, fourten rom
mdiua Kumh kni kadan in the
after Purchase" in
Vijayanagara Inscriptions,Journal afthe Epigraphical Socuei of1350- mbakonam and Tiruchirappalli raluks
vol. 6 (1979).
Nadu:
Tamil 42-4, 221-2,
S6 SIl 2
alone. B
pp. 25-31; 'Property Rights and Land Control in 57
ARE 8/
TK131, 213, 223; ARE 1939-40: 242, 389; 1978-79: 295. of
transterable rights
OU0 (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1984), PP. 89 1906: 130, 146 147. See also 'days' in
409; Dharma Kumar, "Private Medieval
South India
ahmans (ARE 1911: 267: the temple as
Proper in Asia? The Case of 985), pp. 340-0
d
1914: 46; 1931-32: 115).
or the
Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 27, no. 2 p "
David Ludden, Peasant o fkini
shares as a type storyy
of village commun property,
pp. 86-9. withGough
Kathleen the king as landowner, insystem
has interpreted
Modes
In
History, pp. 38-9, 85-8. of Prod 1 Jan.-Mar.
the five study areas, there are twenty-five vol. 15,
G i f i so f
no.
total instan uthern India', Economicand Political Weckly,
Pp. 343-6. Lately Burton Stein has stressed 'communal' ownership in ro
holding. For more extended discussions of all ypes of kani, Heirzma
see
Asants,
Power, pp. 123-47. pp. 75, 82.
 IN INDIA:
1000-1700 STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA, 850-1280
188/THESTATE 189
were limits to the ability of that irrigation. For
riverine
example,
in
of property, but there
alienate
o alter property without considering family dependents,59 Embaedded
Derson.
connece

ces
ed to

in the eleventh century increased to

Tiruchirappalli
taluk
sixty-one references
thirteenth century. The percentages of recorc containing references
of social claims, and
perhaps exit.
within ramified systems g in the
land market, kFi nonetheless referred to ar ini eventually outstriptthose records mentioning the king, his officials
absence ofa to
structure of ownership that was invoked for officiallyv Drivo
rate purposes in nd even centrally-
ly-oriented taxation. Compare the most frequent occur
number of Chola-period
records.
rence of the land revenue departr in Kumbakonam taluk (in 17 per
a
cent of the records) with the much higher figure for käFi (75 per cent)

in the
thirteenth century (Tables 3 and 5).
TABLE 5 The interpretation of this terminological shift depends on the con-
tions berween word usage and local propertry control.
TOTAL NUMBERS AND P'ERCENTAGES OF RECORDS REFERRING TO Karashima has
seen the growth of käFi in Tiruchirappalli as part of the consolidation of
KANI IN FIVE STUDY AREAS
larger, private domains in the hands of possessors' (udaiyan during the
Sub-period 2 Sub-period 3 Sub-period 4 later Chola period, as influxes of plundered wealth and religious donations
Study area
(985-1070) (1070-1178) (1178-1279) disrupted earlier communal properties within villages0 Transfers of
Kumbakonam taluk 12/.08 61.35 941.75 kani land to temples within the five study areas do reveal a predominance
of possessors' among secular donors. 1 Alchough the phenomenon of
Tiruchirappalli taluk 2/.02 11/.08 61/57
Tirukkoyilur taluk 2/.01 91.06 141.13 property differentiation may indeed have been important in the twelfth
98/87
and thirteenth centuries the more generalized increases in käFi references
Tirutturaippundi taluk 5/.26 91.40
5/.06 may reflect a greater specification of individual rights rather than the
Pudukkottai 2/.08 10/.22
origination of a completely new system of property rights.
23.05 100/.19 272/.51
Totals A key may lie in parallel
although rarer increases in terms specity1ngs
Note that there are no references to käni from the inscriptions of sub-period Cultivators rights (kudi käni), the official recognition of the right to
1 (849-985). Cultivate land even without a title to that land as a private possession.
The ratio refers to the number of records from each sub-period containing Kecords especially from Pudukkottai describe donation arrangements
reterences to kni divided by the total number of records from that suo
th provisos that the cultivators of donated land may not be excluded
period. egi ninka) from tenancy under the new temple owners. At times it
s as if those permanent cultivators were the donors themselves.
Table 5 displays the changes in the relative frequency of reteren
provisos may provide a clue to procedures underlying many other
to käFi in the inscriptions from the five study The lack ofreferences
before 985, and the relatively few occurrences until about
areas.
1070 re
onations featuring kâFi transfers. Official changes in ownership or
perty could entail the retention by previous owners or their previous
notable. The relative and number of references continu
absolute more
closely Osiderable rights to agrarian produce. Increasingspecification
increase dramatically thereafter, especially in those areas
60
(Leiden
vol. 2
977))
61 Nobor Karashima, SouthIndian History and Sociery, pp. 21-35.instances (74 per
Duncan M. Derett, Esayu in Clasical and Modern Law, Out of 65 base, 48
PP. 21-5,86-91; Günther-Dietz Sontheimer and J. Duncan M.
Derrett, Der
cent) involved perrecor
corded transfers of kani land in the data
included the honorific titles for 'possessor
(ugaiyar),
u m s im Hindurecht, in J. Duncan M. Derrett, Günther-l 1979), pp. 90-3 der' ns
der (kilava), or 'lord'
(ilau whose names

and araham Smich, Beiträge zu Indischem Rechtsdenken (Wiesbadc n

ahesd
A toral of 26 (araiyan).
rences to the term kudi ning in the data base includes 16 references
103; Yvonne
Bongert, La notior e Propriété dans l'Inde, Travaux et Rec Droit Contempu

ost-1070 Pudukkottai. See « in SII 23: 257;

Transactions of the
Institut de Droit compart ded
l'Université de Paris, 23, Erudes a
donor-cultivators
haeological Society of South India, 1958-59, pp. 84-110, plate 13.
1962, pp. 156-9, 162.
 INDIA: 1000-1700
190/ THE STATE IN STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDIA,
850-1280/ 191
of kani rights was thus part of a larger movement toward greator
religious institutions. Ihe
gteater
tion ofall kinds of property rights,
in order to insure
the specifica- elters in
shelre

thus
implementation of acentral-
led to ever greater alienation
local privileges within the framework of religious servation of ized Chola
state
of
officially granted
endowments.
Amaior cause of class differentiation and terminological cha idual rights to temples, nd the
progressive starvation of the central
e
Statea t theeti time of its greatest need. From this view the local
lie in the activities of the Chola state that we have traced in thi may leaders were
actors in the growth of religious institutions,
The kings gradually and inexorably altered therrules of the
politicalpaper. fferentiated and specified propertyespecially temples,
major

their need for

by moving into local arenas such as Pudukkottai, traditionally d op e and
rights spurredon
by local leaders or ntr. The main weapon for ninated
this penetration
awidespread terminological change that mirrored renewed political local.
ism. But as the
central state tell apart, temple endowments
increasingly a taxation system attempting to eftectively control allocat
vas
themselves became the
expanded until
cations he temples greatest institutions in South India,
of large proportions of agrarian produce. The kings simultaneouslye major landlords and political forces in themselves.
tinued their support ot ritual integration by building and endowino
temples, a policy that in earlier stages ot political consolidation was crucil
for the political
integration ot local allies. The natr, appearing les CONCLUSION

frequenly as arbiters of local administration, vwere increasingly threatened

in their own backyards. Paradoxically, a way out was provided
by the The study of the Chola period has revealed rwo main policies of royal
kings themselves, and lay in religious donationsl A local possessor could political unification. The first and earliest policy displays the charac-
on one hand establish his own
position as a protector ofthe moral universe reristics of the ritual segmentary state through which the Chola
kings
and supporter
of the Chola kings, and ensure continued control overthe attempted to unite disparate and fairly autonomous local leaders under a
distribution of local agrarian produce, by alienating lands to temples,On single, mediating agency through rirual means. The key to this mediating
the other hand he could create provisos entailing continued rights to royal role (1) the manifestation of royal protection over religious
was
cultivation for himself or his elient cultivators, or retain unofficial rights (Brahmin settlements and temples) through the establishment
institutions
to
the appointment of ritual specialists or allocation of sacral food con ot tax-tree revenue grants and construction of shrines and (i) periodic
nected with the ritual enactments supported by donated lands. Most arbitration of local disputes, typically involving religious instirutions,
donated lands were made tax-free by royal orders after local requests, or
made tax-free al
cter in person or more often through representatives who were drawn
were through lump sums given by donors to
detray trom allied local elite groups. A second and later policy involved a
future taxes; it
may have been worth an initial expense to eliminate later gtening of royal control over local resources through the recruitment
royal taxation in an environment where those taxes showed signs of rising cutes into a more bureaucratic tax collection agency, and the implemen-
turther. Alienation of titles to temples in these ways did not tail a ati f tax collection or reallocation within the rich agricultural zones
O
aecrease in the burden of the upper share extracted from the producr pported religious institutions. This second policy reveals a drive
but
signitied a redirection of control over its uses that ultimatey1a oured ncreased revenue extraction and greater centralized control witnin
local authorities. Oretoarea of the empire. The Chola kings remained ritual leaders but
The donation of lands to templesaand the verification in inscript pred be managers in the Artha[stra style.
of the particular rights enjoyed by all participating partieS o f rax CCess of royal integrative policies depended on here
local variables
is
Signs of an increasing flight from royal control and the crea apid y. Ihe most striking feature of the data presented the
influence Witn
se in the of all of royal
03
Arjun Appadurai, ,
no.
increas penetration aspects
within the
Jan-Mar. 1977), pp. 'Kings,
Sects and Temples in South India', IESHR, V Souh asing distance from the
reaches of of the polity. Even
centre
olamandalam, the core area of an extended polity, the kings
outer

47-73; Arjun Appadur2 and Carol Breckenridge Sua

Indian Temple: Authority, Honour and to

ions
ndian

vere
logy. vol. x, no. 2 (July-Dec. 1976), pp. Redistribution,
187-211.
Lonso more likely to strike deals with local leadership than to implement
 INDIA: 1000-1700
192/ THE STATE IN
STATE FORMATION IN SOUTH INDI.
DIA, 850-1280
a centralized dministrative apparatus. The nature of !193
local l
raried according to ecological characteristics adership in authority o v e r agricultura resources.
their.
ged
these
tions encouraged thes local
hen supe rior state organiza-
productive regimes. Smaller riverine tracts, with their rela arying prerogatives, local leaders offered
and assured agricultural surpluses, supported dominant atively policies of the Chola kings, support;
greater thus the early who rarely entered into local
offered for local
propriated some ot the ritual or administrative characteristice ut avenues
legitimation and opportunities for
When the Cholas peripheral riverin tracts, they
overran king booty, imperial policies.
enlisted support for But when
village economy more diréctly,superior
a
Created dominant lineages which supported their overlordsreinstalled attempted to manipulate the state
in return f the arbiters
continuing local autonomy, in a
process that resembles
or aoe affairs were naturally willing to abolish that state; thus
more cl. af royal centralization called forth the creation of tax shelters and policies
feudal' political subordination. In drier zones, with
discrete and more osely l
insecure productive regimes based on rain-ted fields or
m 0
timate oDen rebellion by the thirteenth
small artificiol century. In these ways the
lakes, the kings encountered collective assemblies of hehaviour of local elites within fertile agricultural tracts was crucial to the
many local DOwer. political fortunes of pre-modern dynasties in South India.
holders. The local assemblies became insignificant as the
absorbed leadership waxing royal The results of the present study exemplify the
svstem into the roles of nadu
settlement officials, qualitative differences
adhikaris. and eventually tax department members. But as berween 'nuclear areas-zones of rich alluvial soil and abundant water-
waned, the assemblies of local leaders again came into view asroyal power and zones where stable agriculture was less
rewarding or more insecure.
forums for The emergence of the Kaveri river delta as a
articulating and adjusting the disputes of the dry zones. dynamic agricultural tract
was the salient feature
The three configurations
of political dominance-royal centraliza- underlying the hegemony of the Chola who kings,
tion, feudal' subordination, or nattr in turninitiated projects designed to stimulate further
assembly-thus rested ultimately The dynamism of the Kaveri delta fuelled an
agrarian expansion.
on the
ecology and modes of production that underlay them in different stimulated investment in land reclamation and
imperialism that furher
areas. The determinative
impact of ecological features intersected with within other lesser riverine tracts and in irrigation expansion
the historical
processes whereby the Chola kings, through their military the Chola state
peripheral areas. The impact of
was, then, to provide formats for the
successes, consolidated enough power to enable their own agents to pen- within the expansion of leaders
etrate into the peripheral zones during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. agrarian of Tamil Nadu.
society levels of Several leadership
represented the upper level of a
Despite the importance of the varying interactions of these superior cess
hierarchically organized production pro-
political organizations or alliances for the historical development of that exploited advantages of land and water to create fertile agricul
Chola state, the
the tural tracts.
The Chola period was thus a time when the riverine zones
underlying dynamics of state formation rested on re being filled up, when complex, unequal social management brought
ability of those superior agencies to co-ordinate the aspirations or entes Cchniques of land and water exploitation toward the limits of the
emerging directly from the village level. Political and economic leadersnp riverine
Within the predominantly agrarian economy rested on the p o s
sion
. h e political figures in this drama were the several layers of nobles
land and/or
rights the of the term
andowners, resting on the fruits of peasant cultivation, who inter
kani in the Chola
to
produce from land. The context:
its
With the kings and constituted state institutions. The Chola polity
Was an
produce was not
inscriptions suggest that
power ove 'early state'64 in the sense that its agrarian base and thepolitical
communal (despite a variety of collective con power of its
rights elites were at an early stage of expansion.
nstead divisible into a number of officially determinable legal g
to the fore
or ownerships. Differential access to these rights brougn
64
See
iscussions of and Peter
locally-dominant kinship groups:and individuals representingtheir inter
Skalnik,
tion TheEarly State, the tures of the early state in H.J.M. Claessen
The Hague, 1976. The authors conclude that political organiza
estsindividuals who entered assemblies, who called
themselves was a re
number otlocal
possessors, and who ultimately nätar
interacted with superi01 extens of
munities, afeatSCd system standing
Corresponding to
outside and exploiting large
Marx's ideas ofthe Asiatic mode (pp. 546-54,
policies of these local leaders thar -3). The emphasis of the present study on intermediate authorities sugges
included the preservation or
relatio
elite groups emerging from village-level production
 INDIA: 1000-1700
194/ THE STATE IN

What were the legacies of the Chola polity as an carly stat.

the most striking images of secular change were the numerous erhaps Chapter Six
ful temples that dotted the landscape of fertile agricultural zones beauti-
India-the legacy of an imperial policy that encouraged ritual south
anifes-
tations of temporal authority. Behind the temples was an evna Political Processes and the Structure of
commercial base that found its ed
Polity in Early Medieval India"
agrarian and expression in rhe
the
nized
environment that grew up around holy sites and in
larger
areas of
green fields at harvest time tilled by peasant cultivators. Four centuuries
of relative peace and encouragement of local initiatives had spured
on
the medieval expansion, but the Chola kings had also instituted a new BRAJADULAL CHATTOPADHYAYA
level of governmental involvement in the tertile nadus, including periodic
overseeing of economic activities, the mediation of centrally-sanctioned
officials and the collection of taxes. The accomplishments of the Chola
period-expansion, urbanization and central involvement in local af. Colleagues,
fairs-were not lost during the succeeding Pandyan and Vijayanagara lam grateful to the Executive Committee of the Indian History Congress
periods but were exploited by later dynasties to build larger and more for the honour they have done me by inviting me to preside over the
impressive state structures.
Ancient India section at the session this year. I confess that I am as
surprised as I am overwhelmed at this honour, not only because my
association with the Congress has so far been only minimal but also
because my own assessment of my meagre research output, mainly of an
exploratory nature, falls far short of the value the Committee have so
the commits
indly chosen to attach to it. I suppose being in protession
one to the
responsibility publicly to tel-
of presenting one's credentials
W-practitioners at some stage or the other; in me the responsibility has
to and this is try
voKed a sense of awe, and all that I can do to get over
is
me, which, tor
o my advantage by bringing to you a problem
concern. Unabile to
ning to take the shape of a major academic
I am here
with
t the results of a sustained empirical research, better instead
there can be torum tor no
brino ncertainties, but as I see it historians,
Wnicn
O n e ' s problems to than this annual meet of

Presi Congress,
44th
desSLO
ress, Ancient lndia Section, Indian History
Burdwan, 1983).
Durdwan. 1u and
(Due to to recent writing3
constraintso ot space, I have tried limit the references
to
w use e s
thanks are dueto
earlier publications mos of comparison. My
d
mostly for the purpose
at the Centre
tor
students
Settar and Basant, research

ighu
hnem Studies, especially to Sri P.K.

Nehru Universicy, for

the help that
I have received
trom

the anarlat
W i t h the central state apparatus and wield effective power
in theu
preparation of this Address.)
the early state.