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No. 40.)
PERUNEYIL RECORD OF KULASEKHARA-KOYILADHIKARI.
343
Nediyataļi according to the Kéralotpatti was one of the four assembly halls in the capital town, where the councils (yogams) elected their kings (raksha-purushas) under the leadership of their presidents called the Taliyadirimär or Taliyālväps'. It is not apparent why the royal writ relating to the Peruneyil temple emanated from the Nediyataļi Assembly Hall instead of from the Mērraļi representing Mūlikkalam, which might be expected to have exercised its jurisdiction over Peruneydal, as it had done in the case of the Tiruvanvandür and Tirukkākkarai temples.
Pati or kudipati is the term which has been applied to chieftains in the Kottayam plates' of Sthāņu-Ravi - Pungaittalai-ppati and Pūļaikkudi-ppati, who were petty chieftains controlling restricted areas. Dešavāfis or officers in charge of dēsas or villages would be their equals in status. Arandard which literally means misery, here appears to signify some kind of tax in money or in kind leviable by the village officers on behalf of the king.
Of the places named in the record, Kadambanādu and Iịandurutti are the localities from where the taliyadiris or presidents of the Nediyataļi assembly are said to have been selected. Käpälimangalam and Kämakkäpappalli are mentioned in the Tiruvalla plates and Muttūru may be the same as the modern Muttūru in the Tiruvalla taluk. Tirukkuprappuls seems to be identical with the village of the same name near Kärttigaippalli (Quilon Do.) and belonging to the Edappalli chief.?
Nediya tali and Mērralio occurring in several other records at Tirukkākkarai may, in all probability, refer to these two assemblies in addition to being specific villages answering to these names.
1 Tali means a temple' but here refers to the meeting halls (within temples P) where certain assemblies met. Compare v. 69 of the Sukasandila of Lakshmidása (circa 12th cent. A.D.) where the Chers capital Mahodayapura, has been described as having talis, presided over by all-powerful presidents:
वाचा येषां भवति नृपतिर्मायकी राज्यल म्या सामान् पष्टिं चतुर हा ये गानचेष्टा नयन्ति । शस्त्रे शापि च भृगुनिमः शवदासते या
विप्रन्ट्रेसविपुखमठवर्याक्खीषु स्थलीषु ॥ * Trav. Arch Series, Vol. II, p. 80. Comparandai-keduttu saran-tarum=ital-ena '-silappadigdram (Uraiperubaffurai, 3).
Trav. State Manual, Vol. I, p. 220. • Trav. Archl. Series, Vol. II, p. 166.
• Muttürry-körram was the name of an ancient territorial division and it was situated somewhere in the Pandyan kingdom (Puram v. 24), but it had nothing to do with the village in this record. Compare t. 125 of the Upanilisandilam, where this village has been referred to
Mattürricho honnini ya palayam pinnilittichohu Ganga
m-uttirya tvam viravodu sakho Naluködikku choka.
* In the island of Vaipeen, there is another langunnappula whoso famous Subrahmaṇya temple was, prior to its absorption by the Coobin Durbar, under the management of the Raja of Paravür and an influential san kolam wielding high sacerdotal power (Cochin State Manual, p. 373). Tirukkaprappolayum being med in the noutar gender can have nothing to do with the chief Yakkap Kuprappolav figuring in the Tirukkakkara record of the 20th century A.D.
• Trav. Arch Series, Vol. III, pp. 166-8, and 172-3.
