Latest / The Chola Empire: How South India Dominated the Indian Ocean — Fexingo History / The Stone Archive: Rajaraja's Inscriptions at Brihadeeswarar
Transcript
- Lucas: We've spent a few episodes on Rajaraja I and his great temple at Thanjavur, but I want to zoom in on something that truly makes it unique: the walls themselves are covered in writing. Thousands of lines of Tamil script, carved into stone, recording the daily operations of the Chola state. Luna: Like a stone filing cabinet? That's incredible. Lucas: Exactly. And these inscriptions aren't just decorative — they're legal documents, public records of endowments, tax exemptions, land boundaries, and even the salaries of temple staff. Rajaraja ordered the entire financial and administrative history of the temple to be inscribed for all to see. Lucas: The Brihadeeswarar temple has two major sets of inscriptions. On the lower walls, you get the grants made by Rajaraja himself, his queens, and his officers — land, gold, livestock. On the upper walls, the organization of daily rituals, the names of priests, musicians, and dancers, and their exact allowances. Luna: So it's like a public ledger. Why go to all that trouble? Lucas: Partly to ensure permanence — stone doesn't rot or get lost. Partly to legitimize the grants in a sacred space. And partly because the temple was the state's bank: the Chola administration used temples as economic hubs, depositing tax revenue and redistributing it as salaries and offerings. The inscriptions made everything transparent. Luna: Transparent — in a world without printing or paper archives. That's brilliant. Lucas: And it's given historians an extraordinary dataset. For example, we know the names of over four hundred temple staff — dancers, singers, drummers, accountants — and the exact amount of paddy or gold they received each day. Lucas: One of the most famous parts is the list of devadasis, the temple dancers. Their names, their native villages, their daily allowances, even the number of strings in their anklets — it's all there. And because the inscriptions were updated over time, we can see how the roster changed. Luna: So it's not just a snapshot, it's a living document. Did they record the dance repertoire too? Lucas: Not explicitly, but the inscriptions mention specific performances tied to festivals, and we can infer a lot from later texts. The inscriptions also record the boundaries of villages granted to the temple, with landmarks like rivulets, wells, and trees — a level of detail that helps archaeologists map the medieval Chola landscape. Lucas: This kind of record-keeping shows how seriously the Cholas took documentation. And it's a reminder that preserving history requires effort — which is exactly why we choose to keep this show ad-free. Luna: Yeah, and if listeners want to support that choice, there's a link in the show notes. It keeps episodes like this coming without interruptions. Lucas: Right. So back to the inscriptions: they're also a window into the economy. For instance, we see the conversion rates between different kinds of land — wet paddy fields, dry crops, garden land — and the tax rates applied. This tells us that the Chola state had a sophisticated fiscal system. Luna: Were all these inscriptions in Tamil? Lucas: Almost entirely Tamil, with some Sanskrit in the invocatory verses. The Tamil script used is the medieval Southern Brahmi, and it's beautifully carved. Scholars like Epigraphist E. Hultzsch in the early 20th century first transcribed and translated them, and they're still being studied today. Lucas: One inscription records that Rajaraja himself donated the village of Talaichankadu to the temple, along with rights to its revenue. But it's not just royal grants — there are also donations from wealthy merchants, guilds, and even the temple's own endowments from its earnings. Luna: So the temple was a self-sustaining institution. Did the inscriptions mention anything about the people who carved them? Lucas: Occasionally. Some of the stone carvers — the sthapatis and their apprentices — left their own marks, but not in grand inscriptions. The real authors were the royal secretaries and the temple administrators, whose names appear as witnesses or officials. Lucas: There's also a fascinating inscription about a copper plate grant being re-inscribed on stone to prevent fraud, because stone couldn't be tampered with. It shows they were aware of forgery risks even then. Luna: That's remarkably modern thinking. So the temple walls were like a blockchain — immutable records. Lucas: Exactly. And because the temple is still standing, those records are still there. The Brihadeeswarar inscriptions are arguably the most important single source for Chola history after the Tanjore tower itself. Lucas: But there's one mystery: the upper walls are much harder to read because of the height and the fact that some of the stone has worn away over a thousand years. Scholars have used scaffolding and even drones in recent years to get better images. Luna: Drones for 11th-century inscriptions — I love that combination. Lucas: It's a great example of how new tech meets old. And the inscriptions continue to yield new information. For instance, we now know that the temple employed not just Hindus but also Jains and Buddhists in some capacities, reflecting the cosmopolitan society of Chola Thanjavur. Lucas: So when you visit the Brihadeeswarar today, you're not just seeing a stunning architectural achievement — you're reading the ledgers of an empire. Every line is a story. Luna: And those stories are what bring history alive. I'll never look at a temple wall the same way again. Lucas: That's the thing about stone: it outlasts empires. And the Chola inscriptions remind us that good record-keeping isn't just bureaucracy — it's a gift to the future.