Value of 1 acre of land in Tamil Nadu in 1000 CE

Melpadi is a small town in Vellore district of Tamilnadu, on the banks of the river Ponnari, a tributary of the Palar. Even in the days of the Cholas and Chalukyas, it was in the buffer zone between the two powerful kingdoms. (It currently is at the border of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh). (1)

There are two ancient temples here, the Choleeswara temple and the Somanatheswarar temple. The former was built by Raja Raja Chola on the grave of his grandfather, Arinjaya Chola, who ruled between 956-957 CE. It is a sepulchral temple (Pallipadai). (2)

The Somanatheswarar (3) temple, the larger of the two, has many inscriptions, the translation of one of which I reproduce below. This inscription is dated as being from the the 14th regnal year of Raja Raja Chola (999CE) and found in the Southern wall of the temple: (4)

(Line 1.) Hail! Prosperity! In the 14th year (of the reign) of Sri- Mummudi- Soladeva, (alias) king Rajaraja-Rajakesarivarman, who, (in his) tender youth, during which,- having formed the belief, that, as well as the goddess of fortune, the goddess of the great earth had become his wife,- (he) was pleased to destroy the ships (at) Kandalur Salai and conquered by (his) army Ganga-padi, Nulamba-padi, Tadiga-padi, Vengai-nadu and Kudamalai-nadu, deprived the Seliyas, whose lustre had been growing, of (their) splendour;

we, the assembly of Tiruvallam in Miyaru-nadu, (a subdivision) of Paduvur-kottam, have received fifteen kalanju of gold, weighed by the balance (used in the case) of charitable edicts (dharma-kattalai), from Irayiravan Pallavayan, alias Mummudi-Sola-Posan, the lord of Araisur (and a native of) Araisur in Pambuni-kurram, (a subdivision) on the southern bank (of the Kaveri) in Sonadu.

(L. 11.) For these 15 kalanju of gold, (we) assigned one thousand kuli, (measured) by the rod of Sirrambalam, of land which formed the eastern manjikkam of Vanasamudram, a hamlet to the west of our (village), to (the god) Mahadeva of the Solendrasimha-isvara (temple) at Rajasrayapuram in Tuynadu, for burning one perpetual lamp as long as the moon and the sun endure.

(L. 16.) These one thousand kuli of land we, the assembly, made over (to) Kandan Maravan, alias Solendrasimha-Ma[yi]latti, of Sankarappadi, (who resides) in the high-street of Arumolideva in this Rajasrayapuram, in order to supply to this perpetual lamp (one) ulakku of ghee daily.

Some terms which need translation:

Seliya – Pandyas

Kalanju – about 3.2 gms of gold in our current day measures. 1 gram of gold costs Rs. 3228 today. The value of 15 kalanju of gold today would be Rs. 154944.

Kuli – “Land was measured in Kuzhi – which was one rod in length and one rod in width.” (4) – but which rod? In the medieval times, rods of varying length called “alavu kol” were used to measure land. These rods were maintained in various temples and varied from 12-18 feet in length. So the 1000 kuli of land referred to would have been 3.3 to 7.2 acres of land.

In 1000 CE roughly Rs. 150000 was given in exchange for 3-7 acres of land. The current value of land in Vellore area is around Rs 150000/acre. I am not an economist or a mathematician – but it seems land was expensive even then in Tamilnadu!

Tiruvallam is a part of Vellore today. A search for “Arasur” on Google throws up several possibilities, the closest one being the one in Villupuram. Another is further south, near Sirkazhi and a third near Coimbatore. The closest one near Villupuram is on the banks of the Then Pennai, while the Arasur near Sirkazhi is on the Southern Banks of the Kollidam river. My vote goes for the latter as being the Arasur mentioned!

Arasur near Villupuram, 607107

Arasur near Sirkazhi, 609107

04th May, 2019

admin

Blog