The Colas c26.32

c26.32

There is lastly an inscription of the thirtieth year of the reign of Rājarāja III from Śēṅganūr (Tanjore district) which is of unusual importance to the study of local institutions in the late Cōḷa period. It is a record of constitutional and other arrangements relating to the assembly of the village (the Mahāsabhā). The interesting point here is that these arrangements are decreed by the *mūlaparuṣai* of the temple of Viśvēśvaradēva: *Viśvēśvaradēvar kōyil mūlaparuṣaiyār kūṭṭaṅguraivaṟak-kūḍi irundu grāmakāriyam vyavasthai paṇṇina paḍi*, a clear statement that the *mūlaparuṣai* (*mūlapariṣat*) of the temple framed the regulations that follow in the inscription for the conduct of the affairs of the village. It is not clear why the *Mahāsabhā* (mentioned further on in the record), instead of following the usual rule of itself regulating its own affairs, left the decision of important issues to the *mūlaparuṣai*; we may surmise, however, from the trend of the record as a whole that the *Mahāsabhā* was unable to reach satisfactory decisions on account of sharp differences, and felt the need for laying the whole matter before some external authority for arbitration. If this view is correct, it is not without significance that the *Mahāsabhā* sought the assistance of another local authority, rather than of the king’s government; it may be that by the end of the reign of Rāja-rāja III, the central government, having lost its efficiency, failed to command the confidence of the people. In fact, one of the rules made on this occasion shows that in this period the officials of the king’s government (*mudaligaḷ*) even disturbed the smooth working of local institutions by their intrigues with particular factions.