Public Administration in Ancient India c23.2

c23.2

The Dravidians, when they assumed the government of countries originally peopled by Kolarian tribes, retained the village communities established by their predecessors, but reformed the village system. They made each separate village and each province formed by a union of villages more dependent on the central authority than they were under the Kolarian form of government. Under the Dravidian rule, all public offices beginning with the headships of villages were filled by nominees appointed by the State instead of being elective as among the Kolarians. The Dravidians set apart lands appropriated to the public service in every village, required the tenants to cultivate these public lands, and stored their produce in the royal and provincial granaries, this being the form in which the earliest taxes were paid.