Epigraphia Indica Vol 22

SR No.: 032576
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1933
Total Pages: 408
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 188

No. 24.)
UTTARAMALLUR INSCRIPTION OF PARANTAKA I.
147
records that the merchants that composed or constituted the Nagara of Tirukkalukkuoram alias Ulagalandasőlapuram sold a piece of land to be granted to the temple of Brahmisvara on the hill at the place and made it also tax-free. In mentioning these members, the names of two persons are given after the calling Vyāpāri, one appears with the calling Saliyan and two after the designation Sankarappādiyān. That all these were merchants is first stated in the inscription itself. From this it appears that in the composition of the Nagara constitution, besides those who were purely merchants by profession, there were others, such as Saliyar and Sankarappadiyar who were also merchants but were called by the class to which they belonged or the quarters which they occupied. The next reference is found in an early Chola inscription dated in the 3rd year and 215th day of the reign of a king (of whose name only Kesarivarman is preserved). It records that the Sankarappādiyār of Vadakkil-angadi (North bazar) quarter of Uttaramēru-chaturvēdimangalam, & rent-free village in the district of Kaliyur-kõttam gave & written document stating that they received 15 (kalanju) of gold from Sendan Ganapati alias Sūrasikhamani-Pallavaraiyan of Manpum-Perum-Paluvur in Kupra-kurram, a subdivision of Sola-nādu and agreed to supply one ulakku of oil daily, as long as the sun and the moon would last, for a sacred lamp which the donor had placed in the temple of TiruppulivalattuMahadeva. The phrases Vadakkil-angadi Sankarappādiyom eluttu, offi efuttitfu kudutton and chandirādityarar used in this inscription would suggest that there was a regularly constituted body of the people of Sankarappādi. Against the suggestion of a regularly constituted body, it may be said that a few of the Sankarappādi might as well have given such a joint undertaking. But in this case, it would be natural to expect the mention of their names and also the insertion of a clause to the effect that the agreement will be binding not only upon them. Relves but upon their descendants also. The Madras Museum plates of Parakësarivarman UttamaChola in reciting the contents of a vyavastha (standing order or regulation) made by the Nagara corporation of Kachchippēdu, i.e., Conjcevaram in the 18th year of the reign of Parantaka I ( A.D. 925) refers to the Sankarappadiyar of the three cheris (suburbs) of the village of Rana. jayappādi, Ekavirappādi and Vamana Sankarappādi and states that they received 20 kalanju of gold for the upkeep of a lamp in the temple. Here also one cannot but find a suggestion that the Sankarappadiyar of the three cheris should have had a corporate body which received tho amount.
All that we could) gather about the Sarkarappāļiyār from the references cited above is that they formed part of the kudi (inhabitants), that they were chiefly in big cities (Kanchipuram, Guņamēnagaipuram, Ulagalandasolapuram and Uttaramērür), that some of them at least, if not all, were merchants and took part in the transactions of the Nagara constitution which we find prevailing in such cities and that they had a corporate body among them.
The use of the word samañjasa in the phrase samañjasan-kāna leaves no doubt as to its meaning " to verify or test the correctness of". The personal noun formed from this word is samajitan which is inet with in some of the inscriptions of the Travancore State. In one of them the Samanjitan's duty is clearly stated to be verification of some items of expenses according to prescribed scales. As Samañjitan figures along with sabha and Tiruvadi, it appears that Samafijita and Tirucadi are the designations of particular offices in the sabha and it is not unlikely that they represent the secretary (Skt. Käryadarsi) and President. In this connection it is worthy of note that the transactions of the sabhā are mostly recorded by one individual who is called the madhyastan or kara natta. It is not unlikely that he also performed the duties of the
18. 1. I. (Texta), Vol. VI, No. 363. . Travancore Archaeological Series, Vol. II, pp. 136 and 174. 3 Ibid, Vol III, pp. 50-51.