State and Government in Ancient India c17.s4.13

c17.s4.13

Whether the sub-divisional officers in charge of the *pāthakas*, *peṭhas* and *bhuktis* were helped and guided in administration by popular councils is the next point to be considered. There were such councils to help the district administration as shown already ; they formed a salient feature of the village administration, as will be shown in the next chapter. There is therefore nothing improbable in similar councils having functioned for the sub-divisions or Talukas also. We, however, get evidence of their existence only in Tamil country during the Chola period. How they were constituted is not yet fully known ; the Leyden grant of Animaṅgalam, however, suggestes that they included the representatives of the villages included in the *nāḍu*. The *nāḍu* assembly took active part in the periodical assessment of the land revenue as well as in the classification of land ; we find even chieftains requesting the future *nāḍus* to respect the revenue assignments made by them.² It also took suitable steps to secure relief in land tax when there was a case to justify it.³