Munnur Temple Act As Banks

The temple served as the people's bank. Therefore, the treasury was guarded by garrisons for it kept in reserve the wealth of the land. A huge amount of lands were also donated to the temples, by the rulers, the chieftain^[1] and the public to meet the needs of food grains on festivals. These donated lands provide the sufficient food grains. Beside the rulers were also supplied food grains at times. In addition to this the rulers used to make special taxes on cultivations to meet such exigencies. Several records^[2] from Munnur temples, the treasury undertook to supply the requisites for burning perpetual lamps for conducting daily Pujas from the grant of various donors gifted to the temples. The endowments like kasu^[3] and gold^[4] were deposited in the safe-vaults of the temple treasury and the gifted lands^[5] were placed under its control. In addition to the endowments, the penalty amount imposed on offenders was also deposited there.^[6] By accepting the deposits, the treasury authorities carried out the wishes of the donors. While money was endowed, the donor instructed the donee’s to utilize the interest and not the capital for the said service. The expenses of the above should be met from the interest amount. By this process, the endowment amount was kept as a permanent asset of the temple. This is like the fixed deposits in the banks of modern times^[7]. Thus the Munnur temples also functioned as banks and treasure houses. A temple had the right of having its own treasury known Sribhandaram.

Various records refer to the endowment of money to the temple to be utilized for pujas and festivals and for other purposes. To fulfill the wishes of the donors, the treasury appears to have lent the endowed money to the needy people for interest.