NOTE 47 TABLE I VILLAGES CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO PAYMENT OF KANIKKATAN Number of villages Fixed land correct to aveil Payment in paddy (to be paid in kalam) Payment in gold (in kalanchu) 16 830 83802 297 SII Vol No 5 18 540 54991 584 SII Vol 11—92 10 not given 20687 1239 Total number of villages classified as Devadanam in these inscriptions is 44, out of which 14 villages paid kanikkatan in gold only. The rest of the villages paid tax in paddy. The total weight of gold collected was 2120 kalanchu of gold every year. The total measure of paddy collected was 1,59,480 kalams. The total expenditure of the temple according to inscriptions, leaving out special festival expenses was 64590 kalams. These two figures were arrived at by adding up the data regarding the annual salaries and daily wages of the employees of the temple19 and the Iral Kattina nel9Q (SJ^P siLi^-esr(es)^)^ We can well surmise that the surplus paddy must have been sold to merchant guilds or in the open market for gold. Thus through direct taxes paid to the temple in gold and the sale of surplus paddy for gold, the precious metal accumulated in large hoards in the temple. This must have acted as a negative factor in money circulation so gold coins must have been reserved for foreign and wholesale trade. This accounts for the discovery of large hoards of copper coins of Chola period while gold coins are rarely found. Another channel through which gold accumulated in the temple is revealed by two inscriptions on the Vim Ana. ffe-e^L-.lUl^l^ y^ s'^^ Jrfr^ ^ jScnir Qyiri-LfrSssriLfu^ un'essrt^.iuirs^sfru-jLb u^Ss6 f5 nr tL.iSL.<5\) (oTpSljE^i Q a IT essr i— uessri—.mrEiseifi^ ujirenRfrQ ^(T^uu^SjSir^eu^j ftfrrofr nj^esr^tfr/b^u ^nhij^QjSn'esrujsl^!)'^ ^ Irrr^ S'^Q^SF^^S' (yGS>i—iu Luru^Gfoeun'iEls^s (^(Q^s^s Quiresr