History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s24: Popular Assemblies in South India.
History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s24
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Popular Assemblies in South India.
v3.c41.s24.1
In the peculiar condition of South India i. e. in Kerala and Tamil countries, unlike the rest of India, popular assemblies existed and enjoyed executive and judicial powers. In these countries, the anciant Dravidian population was not only preponderant but probably more advanced than in the rest of India; while the superimposed Aryan people were in a great minority and they considered themselves so pure that they lived in almost repellant aloofness. Yet there were village Panchayats everywhere and district popular assemblies and assemblies for the whole state as is evidenced by inscriptions. These inscriptions being in Tamil and Malyalam, we are precluded from studying them in the original; but we take the following extract from a note on K. P. Menon's History of Malabar, in the Journal of Indian History (April 1925). We have already referred to the body of Six Hundred which supervised the working of temples (p. 204) mentioned in Mr. Pillay's article in I. A. XXIV.
v3.c41.s24.2
"There were three kinds of assemblies or Kuṭṭams, those for the tara (village), for the nādu (district) and for the whole of Kerala country. The first was the meeting of the villagers as represented by the Kāraṇavars of the families, to discuss matters of local interest, while the assembly of the nādu discussed matters of wider interest; and was a representative body of immense power which set at naught, on occasions, the authority of the king".
v3.c41.s24.3
"From the 'Keralotpatti', we learn that after the Perumāḷ, began to rule the country, the Brahmins with a view to impose some check on royal authority organised the country into eighteen divisions and supplied the kings with assemblies which were always to be consulted on all important occasions. Assemblies known as 'the Five Hundred', the 'Six Hundred' and the 'Six Thousand' are mentioned in the Syrian copper-plate described in Logan's collection (No. III), belonging to the 9th century. The Jews and the Christians also had certain privileges in their assemblies". (Christians and Mahomedans also early came to and settled in Malabar.)
v3.c41.s24.4
"Mr. P. Menon refers to various inscriptions which mention village assemblies. This is a feature which bears close similarity to the well-known growth of local representative bodies in Tamil country as proved by later Pallava, Chola and Pāṇḍya records. The village assembly of Kerala met under the presidency of the āśān or headman, decided social desputes, settled petty cases and attended to the various requirements of temples. The early British administrators of Malabar ignored the tara organisation of the Nairs. The great assembly of the whole country was held once in twelve years. It was presided over by Valluvanad or Vallattiri Raja till the 13th century when the Zamorin assumed the presidency. The last assembly was held in 1743".
v3.c41.s24.5
“ The local administration seems to have been in the hands of hereditary chiefs. The country was divided into Nādus presided over by Nāduvālis and these into Deśams under Deśavālis. The Deśam was divided not into territorial groups but into caste or tribal groups such as the grāmams of the Namburis, the tara of the Nairs and the cheri of the low castes. The Nādu and Deśams of this coast differed from similar divisions elsewhere in that they consisted not of so many towns and villages but of so many Nairs etc.” (pp. 115-117).