The Rashtrakutas and their Times c17.s3.4

c17.s3.4

Village assemblies or councils in Tamil country consisted neither of the whole adult population, as was the case in Karnatak, nor of a few select gentlemen, as was the case in Maharashtra and Gujrat, but of about 20 to 30 individuals elected by a kind of selection by ballot.⁴¹ There were detailed rules about the qualifications of the voters and the candidates; certain property and educational qualifications were insisted upon in the candidates along with a blameless character. Persons once elected were disqualified to stand again for election for three years, a rule apparently framed to afford opportunities to all qualified persons to serve on the village councils. The election took place annually and the members elected were known as the great men of the year (*Perumakkal*). They subdivided themselves into a number of sub-committees, as was the case with the corporation of Pāṭaliputra in the time of Chandragupta Maurya. Each sub-committee was in charge of a specific department like the village tank, the village temple, roads, adjudication, wet lands, dry lands etc. The account supplied by the Uttaramallur inscriptions is confirmed by several other records. Thus Sivachulamangalam inscription of the 16th year of the reign of Kṛṣṇa III proves the existence of annual election of the village councils;41a the Solapuram inscription from North Arcot district discloses the existence of a temple sub-committee in that village in 953 A.D., when it formed part of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa empire;⁴² the Gudimallain Bana inscriptions A and B from Chittur district attest to the existence of a village corporation in that village, discharging trust duties, regulating the village crops, controlling the village revenues, and arranging for the works of public utility.(43)