Key Points
Both cultivators in the right-hand cluster and labourers in the left-hand cluster experienced commensurate hardship resulting from the exploitative land tenure policies imposed by the king..
One of the inscriptions from Aduthurai refers to the revolts between the lefthand and right-hand clusters..
Landowning communities, such as the Vanniyar, the Velaalar, and the Brahmins, united to cause injustices to the ninety-six castes in the left-hand cluster, helped by officials in the kingdom..
In the inscription of Emperor of Swasthisree Thiribhuvanam, King Rajarajan, in the sixteenth year at Vadakarai Naattu Valikandapuram, in the Thiruvaliswaram Nayanar Temple that hosts all the left-hand groups, stipulates that everybody will share the good and bad fortune of the members: communities from various regions composed of Brahmins, Chitrameli Periya Naattaar, Yadava, Malayaman (chieftains), Kayangudi Brahmins, and Paravar..
These rare shreds of evidence make it safe to conclude that the riots between the left-hand and the right-hand groups were not mere caste riots but confederations of factions joined by landowning castes and the mercantile class, a clash due to class antagonism..
