Interested to know the cost of living in chozhar kalam: from below inscription:
These endowments were made in the following manner. Kundavaiyar deposited certain sums of money (kasu), which were subsequently borrowed on interest by the inhabitants of certain villages from the shrine of Chandesvara (paragrah 1), the saint in whose name the money affairs of temples are generally transacted.[3] The interest had to be paid yearly into the treasury of the Rajarajesvara temple at Tanjavur either in paddy[4] or in money. In the former case, the interest was three kuruni of paddy for each kasu, and in the latter 12½ per cent. If it assumed that the rate of interest was the same in both cases, one kasu would correspond to the value of 24 kuruni or 2 kalam of paddy .
one kuruni - is approx 8 kgs of rice. so one kasu got you 192 kilos of rice....wow
In two instances (paragraphs 18 and 21), money was deposited for purchasing a number of sheep, from the milk of which two private individuals had to supply daily a certain amount of ghee for lamps. [5] The value of one sheep was reckoned as 1/3 kasu. Or one Kasu got you 3 sheep.
3 sheep = 192 kilosof rice.
How does it compare with current day kasu, cost of kilo of rice and one sheep...
Tamil Inscriptions
part - i
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE TANJAVUR TEMPLE
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE WALLS OF THE CENTRAL SHRINE
No. 6 On the South Wall second tier
This and the next inscription, though of different date, are engraved continuously in two sections. No. 6 fills the whole of the first section and part of the first line of the second section.
The inscription describes a number of gifts, which were made until the 29th year of the reign of Ko-Rajakesarivarman, alias Rajarajadeva, by Arvar Parantakan Kundavaiyar, who was the elder sister of Rajarajadeva and the queen of Vallavaraiyar Vandyadevar. As, according to the large Leyden grant,[1] Rajaraja was the son of Parantaka II. It is evident that the name of his sister, Parantakan Kundavaiyar, is an abbreviation for Parantakan magal Kundavaiyar, i.e., Kundavaiyar, the daughter of Parantaka (II.).
Paragraph 2 records a gift of gold to the same two goddesses, who are mentioned in the inscription No.2.[2] According to paragraph 1, these two images had been set up in the temple of Rajarajesvara by Kundaaiyar herhself. The same princess had set up an image of her mother, to which she presented certain ornaments (paragraphs 3 to 5). Other ornaments were given to the image of the god Dakshina-Meru- Vitankar (paragraphs 6 and 7), which had been set up by king Rajarajadeva (paragraph 1), and to his consort (paragraphs 8 and 9), who was one of the two goddesses referred to in paragraph 2. The remainder of the inscription treats of endowments to these two goddesses (paragraph 10), to the image of Ponmaligaittunjina-devar (paragraph 14), and to the image of the mother of Kundavaiyar (paragraph 19).
There are two possible origins for the word 'anaconda,' both of which are traced to the languages of Sri Lanka: It is perhaps an alteration of the Sinhalese word 'henakanday', meaning 'thunder snake', or alternatively, the Tamil word 'anaikondran', which means 'elephant killer'. there are no anacondas in sri lanka It is unclear how the name originated so far from the snake's native habitat; it is likely due to its vague similarity to the large Asian pythons and portugese conquests in these two corners of the earth
Local names for the anaconda in South America include the Spanish term matatoro, meaning 'bull killer', venketesh
check this site - its got an excellant collection of chola coins - with good description of what has been embossed....
In the later part of the tenth century, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka kingdoms adopted coinage once again after a brief break of four centuries. But this time, it triggered off with the gold coinage to initiate major transactions. Soon silver and copper coinage were minted in plenty to meet the day to day needs of commodities.
Raja raja Chola struck coins both in Sri Lanka and India. They differed much in fabric, style and in the gold purity. The monetary economy was well defined with the Imperial Cholan conquest. In Tamilnadu, Cholas introduced coinage much prior to Raja raja's campaign in Sri Lanka. They adopted 'Tiger facing two fishes' as their emblem on the coinage. Having developed a strong navy, they traded with Sri Lanka and soon conquered them too. They also set voyages as far as the islands of Indonesia and Maldives through ocean. Subsequently they felt the need to mint coins to trade!
Chola's coinage issues were in all the three metals Gold, Silver and Copper. Though the coinage was mainly destined for general currency, very few commemoratives could be observed. Uttama Chola struck silver with the royal emblem of "Tiger facing two fishes" on the obverse and the Nagari legend "Uttama Chola". Raja Raja struck gld fanams bearing the legend Yuddha Malla" on the obverse and the usual insignia on the reverse. He also struck silver and gold kahavanus with the standing king on the obverse and the seated king on the reverse. Nagari legend "Raja Raja" surrounded him on the obverse of some types, and the reverse image of some types.
Rajendra Chola struck coins with the legend "Sri Rajendrah" beneath the usual insignia on both reverse and obverse. The copper Kasu of Chola started off with the reign of Raja Raja, which passed onto next generations (even Kulottunga) with the same standard "Standing King on the obverse" and "Seated King on the reverse". Sometime legend "Raja Raja" and sometime the legend "Ku appears on the coinage surroundig the image. These coins can be seen abundantly as the same type of coins with little deformed images were circulated till the Cholas ceased to exist.
Obverse : Humped bull seated right with lamps on either side; cresent above and stabd below. Reverse : Two fishes horizontal, upper facing left and lower right between two lamps, ; cresent above and stand below represented by three parallel lines, the middle one being shorter than the other two.
Obverse : Standard Chola massa standing King obverse with five filled dots. Reverse : Seated Chola seated king on left, fish and Crozier (sceptre) to right rather than Deva-Nagari text of Ceylon massa Type
The emblem of a "tiger facing two fish" was adopted by Uttam Chola (973-985) of Thanjavur in ThamilNadu. The seated tiger represented the Chola homeland, and the fish for the Pandya conquest. The fish on the Pandyan coins are horizontal (swimming) and in this case vertical (dead). The title Yuddhamalla was adopted by RajaRaja Chola's son Rajendra Chola (1014-1044). Rajaraja Chola invaded Lanka in 990 AD and conquered the northern half. Ruining Anuradhapura he made Polonnaruwa his capital on the island;. Rajendra Chola succeeded in extended Chola occupation over the whole island of Lanka in 1018. The "seated king" design of Lankan massa became the model for subsequent Chola coins. Lanka became regained independence from Chola occupation in 1070 under Vijaya-bahu (1055-1110).
The design is that of the traditional Lanka type massa. Obverse : Standing king with torch on left and group of spheres on right, surmounted by crescent. Reverse : Seated king on left facing right with legend beneath his raised arm. Sri Raja raja in Devanagari script
Rajaraja Chola (985-1014) invaded Lanka in 990 AD and conquered the northern half. Ruining Anuradhapura he made Polonnaruwa his capital on the island;. Rajendra (1014-1044) Chola succeeded in extended Chola occupation over the whole island of Lanka in 1018. Lanka became regained independence from Chola occupation in 1070 under Vijaya-bahu (1055-1110).
Obverse : Humped bull seated right with lamps on either side; cresent above and stabd below. Reverse : Two fishes horizontal, upper facing left and lower right between two lamps, ; cresent above and stand below represented by three parallel lines, the middle one being shorter than the other two.
Obverse : Standard Chola massa standing King obverse with five filled dots. Reverse : Seated Chola seated king on left, fish and Crozier (sceptre) to right rather than Deva-Nagari text of Ceylon massa Type
The emblem of a "tiger facing two fish" was adopted by Uttam Chola (973-985) of Thanjavur in ThamilNadu. The seated tiger represented the Chola homeland, and the fish for the Pandya conquest. The fish on the Pandyan coins are horizontal (swimming) and in this case vertical (dead). The title Yuddhamalla was adopted by RajaRaja Chola's son Rajendra Chola (1014-1044). Rajaraja Chola invaded Lanka in 990 AD and conquered the northern half. Ruining Anuradhapura he made Polonnaruwa his capital on the island;. Rajendra Chola succeeded in extended Chola occupation over the whole island of Lanka in 1018. The "seated king" design of Lankan massa became the model for subsequent Chola coins. Lanka became regained independence from Chola occupation in 1070 under Vijaya-bahu (1055-1110).
The design is that of the traditional Lanka type massa. Obverse : Standing king with torch on left and group of spheres on right, surmounted by crescent. Reverse : Seated king on left facing right with legend beneath his raised arm. Sri Raja raja in Devanagari script
Rajaraja Chola (985-1014) invaded Lanka in 990 AD and conquered the northern half. Ruining Anuradhapura he made Polonnaruwa his capital on the island;. Rajendra (1014-1044) Chola succeeded in extended Chola occupation over the whole island of Lanka in 1018. Lanka became regained independence from Chola occupation in 1070 under Vijaya-bahu (1055-1110).