the right-hand division. The Pallans, correctly Mallar, formed the Pandiyan army, the Pallis constituted the Pallava army, while the troops of Kalingam and other countries were recruited chiefly from the Bedars and Madigas or Chakkiliyans. The male members of these military classes were put in the lefthand, but their females who could not have naturally taken up arms against Rajaraja were treated as belonging to the right-hand faction. The inscriptions of Rajendra Chola prove that this distinction was observed by his army though not so strictly as in his father's time. The expression வலங்கைப்பழம் படைகள் which Occurs therein means the 'old troops of the right-hand' as opposed to the new soldiers of the conquered dominions. And by the time of Adhirajendra Chola (A. D. 1065) a poll-tax[1] was levied on all the male members of both factions who were in a position to use the implements of war. All these clearly prove that the origin of the division was purely of a military or political nature.
Again, the tradition already referred to informs us that the distinction originated in the reign of a Chola king of the Kalinga country, and we know of no earlier Chola kings than Rajaraja and Rajendra Chola, who invaded and temporarily subjugated Kalingam. For these reasons the present writer is strongly inclined to assign to this social distinction a date not earlier than A. D. 1010.
The second agent, also in the order of time, which
- ↑ South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, p. 115.
