Temples in and around Madurantakam
by B. Mekala | 2016 | 71,416 words
This essay studies the Temples found around Madurantakam, a town and municipality in Kancheepuram (Kanchipuram) District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Madurantakam is one of the sacred holy places visited by Saint Ramanuja. It is also a region blessed with many renowned temples which, even though dating to at least the 10th century, yet they c...
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Relations between Villagers and the Temple
Of the village assemblies proper, one can notice two types distinguished by the names ‘Ur’ and ‘Sabha’. A third kind of local assembly was the ‘Nagaram’ confined to the mercantile towns. The Ur was the simplest type of assembly of the residents of the localities concerned and regulated all their common concerns. The Sabha is invariably an assembly associated with the Brahmin village, Chaturvedimangalam.
That the villages were little ‘republics’ which had a large measure of autonomy in the management of their own affairs is seen from the powers of taxation for local purposes. It reveals that the existing rights were protected when new arrangements were introduced the priority of rights of the cultivators to use water from an existing dam was recognized while constructing another dam nearby. It also reveals that the rulers of Tiruchirappalli region gave autonomy to villages and village panchayats to run the administration. But when there was a need the ruler would interfere and prove his integrity.
Sthanikas of the temple were the counterpart of the village head men, who carried on their work with the help of a committee of advisors called the temple committee. A host of temple servants was obviously employed for the temple service.[1] Though the particular man was appointed to see to its day to day administration, the general control was always in the hands of the whole of the village and particularly its assembly or Sabha which came into picture in all important matters.
The merchant class was always willing to help the temples carry on their work, festivals and repair by contributing generously towards their expenses. The subject of repair and maintenance of temples received the attention of our ancestors more than it receives from the common people today.
The bigger villages had several temples each in their precincts. In other ways also the temple kept in touch with the villagers. The temple tenants were exempted from certain customary taxes, they being in reality expected to give them instead to the temple.
Uraiyur grant appraises the appointment of a priest for two temples in that region with privileges to conduct worship, to settle people in its premises, collect dues, etc. on the payment of thirty gold coins by the people.[2]
Inscription from Tiruchirappalli contain records of privileges accorded to ‘Kammal’ an Ironsmith and to other artisans. These privileges were granted by Chakravarti Konerinmai Kondan. The privileges were the blowing of two conches, the beating of drums and so on at domestic occurrences good or bad; the use of sandals when they went out of their homes and plastering of the walls of their residences with lime plaster. The construction of houses with two storeys and with double doors is also mentioned together with the right to decorate the front of their houses with garlands of water lilies.
A contribution from the farmer for a lamp was being daily collected evidently meant as offerings. The temple was authorized to collect a certain amount from cities, villages and military stations to provide fund for repairs. The amount that the individual had to pay was determined by his caste or occupation.[3]
No public activity of man is so much recorded in the inscription of the day at his activities in relation to God and the temple. A record from Pazhankarai mentions the donations for food to the God by the villagers.
The temple management, day to day administration and its general control were always in the hands of the whole of the village and particularly its assembly or Sabha which came into picture in all important matters.
The study of the temple in its economic aspects may be noted that the temple served as an agency in breaking the isolation and promoting self sufficiency of the villages. The temple by its ownership of land in different localities made its necessary for its economic relations to be maintained with the village. The employees who served it were drawn from different localities which paved the way to maintain contact between different villages.
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
S.I.I., Vol. II, No. 5; A.R.E. 309 of 1908.
[3]:
Ganesan, M., op.cit., Inscription No. 242.