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No. 12.)
TIRUPPUVANAM SUPPLEMENTARY PLATE.
133
Rajagambhira- chaturyvēdimangalam in pursuance of the royal order, was signed by the Saivācharya, Sivabrāhmaṇas and the Mudal-Kanakku, besides Sastra-Bhattaraka, son of Jaţādhara.
A few terms that occur in this plate deserve to be noted. These are kēlvi, pidipādu, adukkalaippuram, kadamai and vādā-kkadamai. Kēļvi is the noun derived from the root, 'kel' to
hear'. It is used in inscriptions to denote both an office' and ' a royal order'. Among the official attendants on the king, some were called 'kēļvi 1 and the duty of the kēļvi officers seems to be to communicate to the Department corncerned any order of the king just as they heard it said by him. In communicating such oral orders, they stated the occasion when, and the attendant circumstances under which the king gave them. Besides meaning the class of officials, the term kēlvi came to be applied to the document containing the royal oral order put in proper form and signed by the State officials. This term is sometimes re-placed by (nam-olai) 'Royal order'. It is worthy of note that in this plate kelvi and pidipādu are made to refer to the same thing. In the Vē vikudi plates we meet with the expression kēlvi-andaņālars which conveys the same sense as frotriya-Brāhmana. The term pidipādu consists of the roots pidi 'hold or bind' and padu terms or sources and means 'a deed of support, a letter of authority embodying the conditions to be fulfilled and authorising the possession of a thing or property', ora title-deed'. It is of such a general nature that it could be applied to any kind of document. The following extracts will make its application clear :"tiriya itfa padikku enrum idu pidipādāga" meaning " for having given it back, this
Bhall be the deed of support"; "ivu-andu kär-mudal kadamai irukkumidattu mattāl nellu padin-kalamāga pů onrukku nellu... kuduttu ivar kaiyal taravu kolvõmāgavum ippadi sammadittu pidipādu kuduttom" meaning "agreeing to pay ten kalam of paddy on each ma of land at each harvest and to obtain receipt therefor we gave this pidipādu (i.e., deed evidencing the terms of holding)". It will be seen that this passage is almost similar to the one in the Tiruppūvanam supplementary plate, and
that the record belongs to the time of Jațăvarman Kulasekhara I. Another inscription wbich registers a tax-free gift of land, with its previous owners removed, as a nandavanappuram, i.e., for the maintenance of a flower garden, uses the words "ippadi nam slai pidipädäga kondu chandrādityarar belvadāga ".. Here the word pidi pādu means 'a deed embodying the terms and authorising the holding of the land as a tax-free gift'. As in the present plate, the royal order (nam olai) is termed a pidipādu.
Kadamai means 'assessment on land'. The fact that the temple of Tiruppūvaṇam was getting from the three dēvadāna properties kadamai annually, after crop examination, shows that they must have been assigned by the State and the temple was entitled to all the dues which it was previously entitled to. The fresh settlement by which the sabhā of Rajagambhira-chaturyvēdimangalam was made to pay annually twenty-five kātu, half in money and the other half in paddy, must be equal to the value of the kadamai which the temple was receiving. The word kadan being not much different from kadamai, vāda-kadamai may be equated with vādā-kadan. This is quite appropriate in this case where the temple had been realising kadamai on lands and the
1 See above, note on tiruvdykāfri, p. 106. * No. 293 of 8. I. I., Vol. V. • Above, Yol. XVII, p. 300, text-line 36, • Above, Vol. XXII, p. 67.
8. I. I., Vol. IV, No. 416, • Ibid., No. 419.
