The Colas c29.2

c29.2

The vast majority of the people lived a rustic life in the villages, and agriculture was their principal occupation. The prestige attending the ownership of land had a high social value, and the independent peasant proprietor was then, as now, the backbone of social life. It was the deliberate object of every one, whatever his occupation, to have a small plot of land he could call his own. In fact, the village was primarily a settlement of peasants; and the village assembly an association of landlords. Part of the land surrounding the village was held in common, and the rest was subject till very recently to periodical redistribution;¹ even now, this old rule of redistribution from time to time appears to survive in some of the villages of Tanjore.