At a time when the rural local bodies in nine newly constituted districts are going to the polls, some Chola-era inscriptions bear testimony to the qualifications required for members of the village administrative council.
The inscriptions at Thenneri village in Kancheepuram district also shed light on how farm produce was taxed. “I had a chance to visit the temples and read the inscriptions when I was campaigning for the local bodies elections in the district,” said Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu, who also holds the portfolio of Archaeology.
The inscriptions of Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram district that dwells upon ‘Kudavolai’ — a system to elect members to annual committee (‘variyam’), garden committee, tank committee and other committees for 30 wards — are well-known. But very little is known about the Thenneri inscriptions laying down qualifications for candidates to village administrative committees (‘perumkuri sabai’). The village is located between Walajah and Sunkuvarchathiram.
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The Kanthaleeswarar temple and the Abathsaheswarar temple are on the banks of the 3.80-km-long Thenneri. They were constructed by Sembian Mahadevi, the grandmother of Chola King Rajaraja, in memory of her son Uthama Chola. The inscriptions are on the walls of the Kanthaleeswarar temple, Mr. Thennarasu said.
The temple which offers picturesque scenes are under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). S. Sridharan, former Deputy Superintending Archaeologist of the Archaeology Department, said that according to the inscriptions, candidates should own land and should not have any case pending against them. “He should be highly educated and should have maintained his accounts in a transparent manner.”
Mr. Thennarasu said the rulers were considerate while taxing agricultural produce. “For areca nuts, only 50% tax would be collected for the first 10 years after cultivation. Farmers would pay full tax only after the trees started yielding fruits. Similarly, 50% tax was imposed on banana crops until the yield,” he said, citing the inscriptions.
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The lake bears testimony to Thenneri’s ancientness. Perumpanattrupadai , a Sangam-era literary work, refers to the king who created the lake as ‘Thondaiman Ilanthiraiyan’. The copper plates of the Pallava period found at Kaasakudi refer to the lake as ‘Thiraiyan Eri’. Over centuries, it has become Thenneri, Mr. Sridharan said.
“There is a Vijayanarayana Perumal temple. Village meetings took place in the front hall of the temple during the reign of Rajaraja. The temple is known as Mummudi Chola Vinnagaralvar,” Mr. Sridharan said.
He said the lake had close association with the Varadharaja Perumal temple of Kancheepuram. The deity would visit the lake during the float festival in the Tamil month of ‘Masi’, and villagers would offer paddy and other commodities on His return to Kancheepuram.