34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST temple during a time of thuridam, or revolt.33 Some scholars believe that the thuridam refers to the ravages of the Ceylon armies.84 However, from a reference in an inscription found at Kizhaiyur of the Thanjavur region to the emigration of the people from their homes to Rajaraja Ghaturvedi-mangalam as a result of thuridam, one is inclined to conclude that the word thuridam refers to an internal uprising.36 One inscription tells us of the restoration of the title deeds which had been destroyed in the fury of the people.36 Another inscription found at Udaiyalur in the Thanjavur region mentions the writing of new title deeds, on the basis of the first year's practice, in place of the title deeds. that had been destroyed.37 Brahmin and Velala landlords were known, with official connivance, to have tampered with and transformed the title deeds. Exploiting their hegemony in the Ur, Sabhai and Koyilsabhai, they destroyed existing title deeds and documents and cooked up documents in their own favour, transforming cultivation rights, raising their share of the produce and defrauding the small cultivators. The toiling people of the 'right hand^ and 'left hand' united in an assembly called to oppose this practice and decided not to help or co-operate in any way with Brahmin and Velala landlords and officials.38 There is evidence to believe that not all these revolts were confined to particular villages or to pockets of resistance. We have reason to believe that Kulothunga I utilized to his advantage the conflict between the 'right hand' and the 'left hand', a clash which involved the burning down of Rajamahendra Chaturvedimangalam and the destruction of the temple, and which resulted in great chaos. This riot spread extensively in the areas surrounding Thanjavur.39 Some historians believe that it was in this extensive warfare that the Ghola king, Adhirajendra (1070), was killed.40 There is some ground for believing that it was the struggle for land, for the right to cultivate and for social rights, and the struggle against tax burdens that developed into an extensive upsurge in the kingdom. Temples, which in the later Chola period were direct exploiters of the common cultivators, became targets of attack during this time, involving destruction of temple property.4 l We have examined only a few of the inscriptions which throw light on the struggles against landlordism and for rights during the later Ghola period. The publication of the hundreds of other inscriptions relating to the period should open up a whole new area of historical research. These "spontaneous protests and limited actions for specific demands,"42 although they could not be conducted with sufficient unity, organization or plan, and although they were inevitably quelled in the course of time, had in their accumulation and depth a distinctive historical significance. (This article was translated from Tamil by N Ram.)