The Colas c26.46.3

c26.46.3

and *Nāṭaka-śālās* were specially constructed for these purposes.¹⁰⁵ There were recitations of sacred hymns in Tamil and in Sanskrit in the course of the daily worship in the temples, and the assemblies sometimes gave shares from the common lands of the village for the maintenance of these services. Schools of higher learning were attached to temples and so were hospitals. The assemblies were found endowing or assisting in the endowment of particular subjects like Mīmāmsā of the Prābhākara school,¹⁰⁶ Vēdānta,¹⁰⁷ Vyākaraṇa,¹⁰⁸ Bhaviṣya,¹⁰⁹ Taittirīya,¹¹⁰ Vājasanēya,¹¹¹ and so on. In the foundation of hospitals and the maintenance of physicians attached to them the assemblies actively assisted and co-operated with the donor.¹¹² They also aided persons who desired to put up rest-houses (*ambalam*) and provide for the supply of drinking water in them.¹¹³ Agrarian rights and tenures, and irrigation of land, of which an account is given elsewhere, were among the most important concerns of the assemblies. In addition to the records relating to such matters maintained by the central government, the villages seem to have kept their own record books including a land-register (*nila-mudal*) and a tax-register (*pottagam*).¹¹⁴ The consent of the *sabhā* was essential to any alteration in the classification of the lands in the village;