The Colas c26.12

c26.12

The *Sabhā* and the *Ūr* co-existed in places where a new settlement of Brahmins was super-imposed on a more ancient community by the constitution of a *maṅgalam*. In almost every place, the advent of the new class of settlers must have been welcomed for many reasons. Often the land had to be purchased from its previous owners, individuals or communities, before being made over by the king or the noble to the donees who were to form the new *maṅgalam*, and this resulted in a rise in land-values; at any rate, it put the members of the *ūr* in possession of much cash that they could put to good use. If the land sold had been common property, as it sometimes was, the proceeds were used in financing projects of public utility. Then the coming in of a group of persons, conspicuous for their learning and character, benefited the people by bringing them into touch with the best and highest culture available at the time, and giving them a class of natural leaders to whom they could turn for advice and guidance in their difficulties. The common people continued to meet as the *ūr* and carry on their affairs as before; the newcomers formed themselves into a *sabhā* of the usual type. Such, in outline, is the course of affairs one is led to postulate from the inscriptions of the period.