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INTRODUCTION
xiii

compositions. So far as I can judge Mr. Krishnaswami Aiyangar is right in dating the best period of Tamil literature in the second and third centuries of the Christian era.

The most important and generally interesting chapter in the book is the sixth (pp. 90–191), which gives an admirable abstract of the political history of the Cholas, with a detailed account of their system of Government and village administration, well deserving of attentive study. The Chola dynasty was singularly prolific in kings of more than ordinary capacity, from the middle of the ninth century to the end of the reign of Kulōttunga in A.D. 1118. It is clear from the details on record that the administration of the kingdom was 'highly systematized' from an early date. For instance, there is abundant evidence that 'the lands under cultivation were carefully surveyed and holdings registered at least a century before the famous Domesday record of William the Conqueror'. The re-survey of 1086 was exactly contemporaneous with the English record.

'The Cholas were great builders; builders not only of cities and temples (sometimes for strategic purposes sometimes in obedience to the dictates of their vanity), but also of useful irrigation works'. It is lamentable to be obliged to record the disgraceful fact that 'when the lower Coleroon anicut (dam) was built, the structure (that is to say, the noble temple of Gangaikonḍapuram), was dismantled of a large part of the splendid granite sculptures which adorned it, and the enclosing wall was almost wholly destroyed in order to obtain material for the work.' By the kindness of Mr. Rea,

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