The Colas c26.20

c26.20

As a rule the *Sabhā* had a more complex machinery of local administration and functioned very largely through its committees called the '*Vāriyams*'. The exact meaning of 'Vāriyam', perhaps a Tamil word, is somewhat obscure; a connection with 'Vāri', 'income' in Tamil, 'rigorous demand' in Kannaḍa,⁴⁴ may be suggested. It is equally possible that *vāriyam* is a Tamilised Sanskrit word, *vārya*, meaning 'selected' or 'chosen'; in fact one inscription employs the expressions '*varaṇam śeydal*' for the act of choosing, and '*varaṇam*' for the executive body of the *sabhā*.⁴⁵ And the term '*vāriyar*' denotes persons employed by the *Sabhā* in specified duties. When the *Mūlaparuḍai* or Śucīndrum ceased to manage the local temple, the *sabhā* appointed two *vāriyar* to do this work on their behalf. And the Pāṇḍya inscription at Mānūr, to which reference has already been made, lays down that no kind of '*vāriyam*' was to be entrusted to persons who did not possess certain qualifications. The early history of the *vāriyam* is very obscure. But enough evidence remains to show that the systematic employment of committees for executive work in rural administration was the result of a fairly long period of experiment, trial and error. In the earlier stages such work may have been done by individuals or very small groups. What looks very much like an *ad hoc vāriyam* for a specified temporary purpose is mentioned in an inscription from Śrīnivāsanallūr;⁴⁶ its precise date cannot be determined as the ruling king is described in it only by the title Rājakēsari, but there is little doubt that it is an early Cōḷa inscription. This *vāriyam* is appointed, not by the territorial *sabhā*, but by the *mūlaparuḍai* of Mahēndramangalam in charge of the local temple; and the duty entrusted to the *vāriyam* was to describe authoritatively and record the extent of the *iraiyili dēvadāna* lands of the temple. There must have been several other instances of similar special *vāriyams* appointed for specific purposes. Whether the experience gathered from such experiments led to the growth and spread of the system of *vāriyams* in local administration, or whether the machinery of committees evolved by the *sabhā* in its active working was adapted by the other corporations, cannot now be decided. A *nila-vāriyan* of Tirukkaḍaiyūr is mentioned as late as 1194, and he was doubtless an official under the *sabhā*.⁴⁷ The members of the executive committees of the *sabhās* were generally called '*vāriyapperumakkal*'.⁴⁸