South Indian Temple Economy

Timeline

1. c. 1400–1420Temple villages of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka · Tamil NaduRoyalty and local nayaks donated villages and farmland to temples; temple committees managed revenue shares, irrigation maintenance, and the upkeep of priests and dancers, forming self-sufficient local economic units.
2. 1411–1420Coastal and inland trade route nodes of South India · South IndiaLarge temples served as grain storage and credit intermediaries, offering loans and remittance facilities to merchants; festival fairs attracted cross-regional traders, tightly linking the temple economy to Indian Ocean trade networks of this period.
3. 1565–1600Nayak domains of Mysore and Tanjore · KarnatakaAfter the collapse of Vijayanagara, local nayak regimes took over temple land management; the temple economy shifted from imperial coordination to regional feudal control, while the institutional framework continued.