The Colas c26.33

c26.33

The rules that follow are reasoned statements of the decisions reached, and we see that the *mūlaparuṣai* were fully alive to the extraordinary and difficult nature of their task on this occasion. The first resolution relates to the constitution of the executive administration (*kūṭṭam*) of the village: there was an immemorial practice (*anādiyāga vyavasthai*) that, when the executive of the village was chosen (*nammūrk-kūṭṭam iḍum iḍattu*), those who had once served could serve again only in the fifth year thereafter, their sons only in the fourth year and their brothers in the third, and this ancient practice was to be maintained; only those who were not less than forty years of age were to be chosen; the *kūṭṭam* should be chosen after obtaining the consent, ‘as our ancestors did’ (*pūrvapuruṣāgaḷ seyda-paḍik-kīḍāga*), of the villagers assembled as the *ūr*; any persons who got in by fraud (*uḷvari*, lit. disguise) with the support of the officials (*mudaligaḷ*) of government or in violation of these rules, would be deemed to be traitors to the village, all their properties being confiscated; the *kūṭṭam* was to be chosen every time for one year (*samvatsara-varaṇam*); any persons that stayed on longer (*mērpaḍi ninṟār*) would also be considered *grāmadrōhis* and punished as above. The appeal to the *mos majorum*, the stress laid on the consent of the *ūr*, the protest against undue influence by the *mudaligaḷ* and the deterrant punishment laid down against attempts to capture the executive by improper methods or to prolong the period of office beyond the proper term, are all features of the resolution that deserve to be noted. Let us observe this also: how the choice of the executive was actually made, we are not told; nor do we hear of how the consent of the *ūr* was expressed; obviously our record does not tell the whole story, but sets down only the decisions on a few points that had come under discussion, the rest being a matter of common knowledge at the time.