Document 179

ECONOMY
Land revenue and trade tax were the main source of income. The Chola rulers
issued their coins in gold, silver and copper. The Chola economy was based on
three tiers—at the local level, agricultural settlements formed the foundation to
commercial towns nagaram, which acted as redistribution centres for externally
produced items bound for consumption in the local economy and as sources of
products made by nagaram artisans for the international trade. At the top of this
economic pyramid were the elite merchant groups (samayam) who organised and
dominated the regions international maritime trade. [clarification needed] One of
the main articles which were exported to foreign countries were cotton cloth.
Uraiyur, the capital of the early Chola rulers, was a famous centre for cotton
textiles which were praised by Tamil poets. Chola rulers actively encouraged the
weaving industry and derived revenue from it. During this period the weavers
started to organise themselves into guilds. The weavers had their own residential
sector in all towns. The most important weaving communities in early medieval
times were the Saliyar and Kaikolar. During the Chola period silk weaving attained
a high degree and Kanchipuram became one of the main centres for silk. Metal
crafts reached its zenith during the 10th to 11th centuries because the Chola rulers
like Chembian Maadevi extended their patronage to metal craftsmen. Wootz steel
was a major export item. The farmers occupied one of the highest positions in
society. These were the Vellalar community who formed the nobility or the landed
aristocracy of the country and who were economically a powerful group.
Agriculture was the principal occupation for many people. Besides the landowners,
there were others dependent on agriculture. The Vellalar community was the
dominant secular aristocratic caste under the Chola rulers, providing the courtiers,
most of the army officers, the lower ranks of the bureaucracy and the upper layer
of the peasantry. In almost all villages the distinction between persons paying the
land-tax (iraikudigal) and those who did not was clearly established. There was a
class of hired day-labourers who assisted in agricultural operations on the estates
of other people and received a daily wage. All cultivable land was held in one of
the three broad classes of tenure which can be distinguished as peasant
proprietorship called vellan-vagai, service tenure and eleemosynary tenure
resulting from charitable gifts. The vellan-vagai was the ordinary ryotwari village
of modern times, having direct relations with the government and paying a land-tax
liable to revision from time to time. The vellan-vagai villages fell into two broad
classes- one directly remitting a variable annual revenue to the state and the other
paying dues of a more or less fixed character to the public institutions like temples
to which they were assigned. The prosperity of an agricultural country depends to a
large extent on the facilities provided for irrigation. Apart from sinking wells and
excavating tanks, the Chola rulers threw mighty stone dams across the Kaveri and
other rivers, and cut out channels to distribute water over large tracts of land.
Rajendra Chola I dug near his capital an artificial lake, which was filled with water
from the Kolerun and the Vellar rivers. There existed a brisk internal trade in
several articles carried on by the organised mercantile corporations in various parts
of the country. The metal industries and the jewellers art had reached a high degree
of excellence. The manufacture of sea-salt was carried on under government
supervision and control. Trade was carried on by merchants organised in guilds.
The guilds described sometimes by the terms nanadesis were a powerful
autonomous corporation of merchants which visited different countries in the
course of their trade. They had their own mercenary army for the protection of
their merchandise. There were also local organisations of merchants called
"nagaram" in big centres of trade like Kanchipuram and Mamallapuram.
CHOLA HOSPITALS
Hospitals were maintained by the Chola kings, whose government gave lands for
that purpose. The Tirumukkudal inscription shows that a hospital was named after
Vira Chola. Many diseases were cured by the doctors of the hospital, which was
under the control of a chief physician who was paid annually 80 Kalams of paddy,
8 Kasus and a grant of land. Apart from the doctors, other remunerated staff
included a nurse, barber (who performed minor operations) and a waterman. [146]
The Chola queen Kundavai also established a hospital at Tanjavur and gave land
for the perpetual maintenance of it.
CANALS AND WATER TANKS

There was tremendous agrarian expansion during the rule of the imperial Chola
Dynasty (c. 900-1270 AD) all over Tamil Nadu and particularly in the Kaveri
Basin. Most of the canals of the Kaveri River belongs to this period e.g.,
Uyyakondan canal, Rajendran vaykkal, Sembian Mahadegvi vaykkal. There was a
well-developed and highly efficient system of water management from the village
level upwards. The increase in the royal patronage and also the number of
devadana and bramadeya lands which increased the role of the temples and village
assemblies in the field. Committees like eri-variyam (tank committee) and totta-
variam (garden committees) were active as also the temples with their vast
resources in land, men and money. The water tanks that came up during the Chola
period are too many to be listed here. But a few most outstanding may be briefly
mentioned. Rajendra Chola built a huge tank named Solagangam in his capital city
Gangaikonda Solapuram and was described as the liquid pillar of victory. About 16
miles long, it was provided with sluices and canals for irrigating the lands in the
neighbouring areas. Another very large lake of this period, which even today
seems an important source of irrigation was the Viranameri near Kattumannarkoil
in South Arcot district founded by Parantaka Chola. Other famous lakes of this
period are Madurantakam, Sundracholapereri, Kundavai-Pereri (after a Chola
queen).

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ECONOMY

CANALS AND WATER TANKS

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