The Mode of Payment

Thus the temple purchased the articles both directly and through contractors. Purchase through the contractors was not only widely prevalent but it was also convenient for the temple. This mode of purchase made the temple free from the troubles of cultivating the land, selling its produce and then purchasing the articles. Moreover the temple did not have to invest the gift money, collect the interest, and then purchase the articles. The temple did not have to maintain certain employees to get these things. Only a few supervisors managed the entire transactions. The temple framed the terms and pledged the land directly to some individuals or invested the gift-money with him and directions were given to them to supply certain articles to it. The donations were entrusted with the village assembly, temple officials or some supervisory body of the temple. Examples of all these kinds are in abandoned in epigraph.^[1]

Many donations of land and money were enhanced the rent and interest to the temple. The temple may have used such funds to make purchases directly according to their occasional requirements by paying in cash or in kind. Smaller temples with lesser income and fewer requirements might have adhered to this method.

The temple was a nucleus around which a town grew in course of time. In its vicinity settled tradesmen who carried on their livelihood by supplying goods to the temple and its inmates. The temples were the great centre of trade for the local people, and sometimes for the big merchants too. Dealers in flowers and other articles of worship put up their commodities on display around the temple. In this regard the religious centre have not changed much even today.^[2]

Many artisans and traders were closely associated with the temple in its building activities. All these activities were regularly carried out in the temples, and therefore they mostly lived in the temple cities. Many industries such as those connected with melting, casting and working in gold and silver were run to meet the requirements of the temple. Generous donors made constant offerings of jewellery for their favourite deities or set up new shrines containing images made of metal and stone. It naturally encouraged the sculptors and other artisans whose products were regularly bought by the temple. The pilgrims coming to pay homage at the temple generally returned home with small images of the deities cast in metal or stone to be set up in their houses for worship. The needs of thousands of pilgrims who throng at these centre of worship all the year round and especially at the time of festivals could not have been met without some kind of tourist industry which gave employment to guides, priests, inn-keepers and food-sellers.

Thus, the temples were consumers of important goods. Their requirements helped and encouraged local traders and industries. The temple also served as a consumer. The inscription of this temple mentions that the servants in the temple used to purchase coconuts, sandal paste, rice, turmeric, incense, leaves, flowers, lights, gee, salt, pepper, areca nut and betel nuts in addition to oil, mustard, pulse, sugar, plantains, curds and fire woods produced in the temple lands. The temple servants also had fascination for spices like rosewater, musk, camphor and saffron.

Temples as centres of human activities had to cater to the needs of the people. The consumption of such things depended largely on the kinds of pujas performed and festivals celebrated, servants attached to the temples, the number of needy to be fed and the population that participated in the various activities of the temples. They required various articles and goods for sacred worship and food for feeding the needy. To meet these, they produced and kept all kinds of articles and commodities in their own establishments. Therefore, temples are called the biggest consumers of the society.

This temple also consumed a larger quantity of the local products which were either purchased or obtained from their lands or donated by devotees. Inscriptions of this temple record the articles of consumption in this temple. Large quantity of ghee and oil was used for burning lamps and for cooking food. Oil^[3] was also used for the sacred bath of the deity. To get the required supply of milk for Palamudu, cows were donated to this temple. Provision made for the supply of rice, ghee and curd for a special offering to the God was also recorded. This is evident from a record of Kulasekhara from the Jambukesvara Temple, Tiruvanaikkaval at Trichy. A record of Maravarman^[4] Vikraamapandya I from the Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, 'refers to the gift of 500 veli of land for the supply of several thousand plantains for the daily use in the same temple. Inscriptions record the elaborate arrangements made for getting the required quantity of paddy and rice to the temple. Land was set apart for fetching firewood and producing the required quantity of salt, pepper, cumin seed, coconut and fruits. Lands were given for providing camphor, musk, European saffron, sandal and rose water to the temples. The constant need for varieties of flowers^[5] to adorn the deities and different pieces of clothes to dress the idols is recorded in inscriptions. The supply of areca nut is referred to in some records. Besides, incense, mustard, pulse, sugar and leaves were also required for daily use.^[6] Some records register the provision made for the supply of vegetable also. The tenants of the temple lands were asked to supply some quantity of their produce such as turmeric, ginger, betel leaves and sugarcane for temple use.142

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A.R.E., 71 of 1922.

[2]:

A.R.E.,59 of 1919.

[3]:

A.R.E.,57 of 1919.

[4]:

A.R.E., 1961-62, Part ii, Para 2.

[5]:

A.R.E.,57 of 1919.

[6]:

V.M. Krishnamoorthi., Corporate Life in Medieval Tamil Nadu, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 1978, p.230.