Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s4: Sec. iv. Village Administration in South India

Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s4

Language: English

Sec. iv. Village Administration in South India

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India has been largely a country of village communities, a system now practically extinct. Social and even economic reasons had to a great measure contributed to the growth of these tiny little republics, both in the southern and the northern parts of ancient India. Sir Charles Metcalfe quoted by Banerjee in his *Indian Economics* has the following remark: ‘This union of the village communities, each one forming a separate little state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the people of India, through all the evolutions and changes which they have suffered and is in a high degree conducive to their happiness and to the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom and independence.’¹ Sir George Birdwood again has remarked that ‘the village communities have been the stronghold of the traditionary arts of India: and though these arts have passed out of the villages into the wide world beyond, the caste system of the code of Manu has still been their best defence against the taint and degradation of foreign passions.’²

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¹ P. Banerjee, *A Study of Indian Economics*, p. 44 (Macmillans, 1911). ² *Industrial Arts of India*, p. 137. ³ In the Gupta period according to the Dāmodarpur copper plate inscription (*Ep. Ind.*, vol. xv, pp. 127 ff.) *bhukti* was a province and *vishaya* a district. ⁴ *S.I.I.*, vol. iii, part i.

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In the light of the above remark we proceed to examine the administrative divisions of the ancient Tamil kingdoms in South India. The kingdom was divided³ into the *maṇḍalam* (province), *koṭṭam* or *vaḷa-nāḍu* (district), *nāḍu* (taluk), and *ūr* (village or township). For example the *ūr* Ukkal was in Pāgūr *nāḍu*, of the Kaliyūr *koṭṭam* in the *Toṇḍamaṇḍalam*.⁴

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The village was the unit of administration. Each village was managed by a number of committees. The most striking committees of a village were commonly the tank committee, the garden supervision committee, the committee for the supervision of justice, temple committee and the general committee of management. Others were a committee of elders for the supervision of wards (*kuḍumba*), of the fields of the village, the *udāsīnas* (ascetics). The other committees mentioned are a committee for gold supervision, perhaps a currency committee, and the committee of *pāñchavāravāriyam* that may possibly be identified with the *pāñcha pradhanas* or *aimperumkuḷu*.¹

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¹ Ancient India, p. 169; *Ep. Report for 1899*, Secs. 68-73, dealing with the inscriptions of the time of Parāntaka Chola. See *History of Aryan Rule in India*, p. 231.

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Representatives of these committees were also members of the village assembly, or the *mahāsabhā*. Every village had an assembly of its own called a *sabhā* or a *mahāsabhā*. These village *sabhās* often call for notice in the South Indian inscriptions. These *sabhās* held their meetings generally in the temple halls (*sabhā-maṇḍapa*) and particularly under a large and shady banian tree in platforms usually constructed for similar purposes.²

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² *Aham* 251, *Puram* 390.

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Each *sabhā* had for its members the village elders, the *bhaṭṭas* (learned Brahmans), the *viśiṣṭas* (straight and law-abiding men) and prominent priests of the temple. Further, representatives of the merchant community (*nagaraṭṭār*), of the common folk (*ūrār*), and of the district (*nāṭṭār*) not infrequently sat in the *sabhā*.

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Two Uttaramallūr inscriptions³ enumerate how elections were made to constitute these committees as well as the assembly. The village was divided into hamlets and wards. The first was a geographical division and the second was a political division. For example the village of Uttaramallūr constituted twelve hamlets and thirty wards. The individual or committee in charge of each ward sent a list of the names of men in their respective wards who were eligible for election to the assembly. There were special tickets on which these names were written. These tickets were deposited in a pot. One was chosen by lot for each ward, in the presence of the members of the village assembly.

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³ Nos. 1 and 2 of 1890; *S. I. I.*, vol. ii, part iii.

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The minimum qualifications to seek election in these local assemblies were property qualification, or educational qualification, and sometimes both. He who owns one-fourth *veli* of tax-paying land, he who owns a house, he who owns one-eighth *veli* of land but qualified by learning one of the four *bhāṣyas*, one who is qualified to teach *mantra-brāhmaṇa*, and one who holds a share in the village and is versed at least in one of the *Dharma Śastras* and studied one whole *Veda* is eligible for election.¹ These qualifications alone are not enough, for there were the further qualifications as to age and character. None below thirty-five and above seventy-five were eligible; and those whose character and conduct was not beyond question in every manner could be members of the assembly.

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¹ *The Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume*, p. 227.

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The following relatives of a member adjudged guilty in office are disqualified from standing for elections :—

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(1) The near relatives of the member such as, the sons of mother's sisters, the sons of paternal aunts and maternal uncles, the brothers of mother, the brothers of father, brothers, father-in-law, brothers of wife, brother-in-law, nephews, sons-in-law, father and son.

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(2) Those who were guilty of the first four of the five great sins, *pañcha-mahā-pātakam*—murderer of a Brahman, one who is addicted to intoxicating liquors, one who is guilty of the theft of gold, and of adultery with the wife of the preceptor.

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(3) Those who are associated with low people, who are fool-hardy, and who are guilty of theft or plunder.

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(4) Those of loose morals.

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(5) those who had taken forbidden dishes.

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(6) those who have committed forgery, or ridden on asses.

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Among the elected those who had previously served on the garden Supervision Committee, and those possessing more educational qualifications and also advanced in age, were appointed to the Committee of Annual Supervision which was perhaps the most important of all local committees. So far as Uttaramallūr was concerned twelve members constituted this committee. Among the rest, twelve were appointed for the garden Committee, and six for the tank Committe. There were also annual committees. Any member who is charged with offence of any kind is to be removed at once. The late Mr. Krishna Sāstri remarks that the co-operative and constructive principles on which an assembly had to conduct its deliberations were fully recognized, and no member was allowed persistently to oppose, on penalty of being fined, the proceedings of the assembly by saying ‘Nay, Nay,’ to every proposal that was brought up. Refractoriness on the part of members, as distinguished from an honest difference of opinion, was much discouraged.¹ For the other two committees also the Gold Committee and the *pañchavāra vāriyam*, the same method of election was pursued. Twelve members were chosen by lot and of them six constituted each committee. During the succeeding elections the wards which were represented in the previous years were left out and thus an equal opportunity was given to all.

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¹ The Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume, p. 227.

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In the election of village officials such as the accountant, both election and lot on the Athenian model were made use of. The appointments were usually for the year. Strict discipline was observed and professional misconduct on the part of the officials was severely dealt with. Inscription No. 583 of 1904 dated A.D. 1234-5 records the dismissal of a village accountant for the offence of cheating and the debarring of his relations from holding the appointment.

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What were then the functions which this village assembly transacted? From the Ukkal and other inscriptions,¹ it is increasingly manifest that the institution of the *sabha* had reached a high level of efficiency and a good working order about the tenth and eleventh centuries A.D. The *sabha* had the following duties among others:—

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¹ *S.I.I.*, vol. iii, part 1.

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It exercised supreme rights over the village lands: it was the arbitrator in disputes arising from purchase and sale of lands: it confiscated and sold lands of defaulters: it was responsible for the state-levy on the village: it raised public subscription in the cause of general interest.² It obtained loans to meet exigencies such as famine: it had a treasury of its own: it held supervising control over the various committees of the village and also temple accounts: it had the right to punish the internal enemies of the village (*grāma drohin*).³ In a word it did everything to improve the moral and the material welfare of the village.

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² *Ep. Report*, 1909, pp. 82-3.

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³ *Ibid.*, 1910-11, p. 72.

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Before we close, mention must be made of the temple Committee, probably annually elected like the others and subject to the control of the village *sabhā*. Inscription No. 66 of 1923, dated the sixteenth year of *Rājarāja* mentions the temple Committee of eight members called *maṇṛādivāriyam*, which supervised the temple revenues from land and other sources and also conducted festivals.¹ The Tanjore temple inscriptions give a detailed working of the temple Committee in all aspects of temple activities which bear witness to tendencies for corporate life in ancient South India. The temple was in those times a busy and important centre. The princely endowments made by the kings of the Pallava, Chola, and the Pāṇḍya dynasties have made the temple a great centre of civic life. The endowments (*devadāna*), were generally of lands, money, live-stock, besides oil, rice, vegetables, fruits, sandal, cakes, incense, etc. The committee examined the accounts submitted by the temple accountants in respect of grains and other produce. Special priests were appointed (invariably from the Brahman community) to perform sacred worship. The chief priest was assisted in his service by Brahman bachelors (*brahmachārins*). There were also servants to carry water, to supply garlands and flowers, and to cultivate them. Provision was also made for four *yogins*, three *bhairavins*, four *yogīśvaras*, a music party of ten, twenty-four dancing girls, one astrologer, singers of the *tiruppaḍiyam* and the *tiruvoymoḷi*, the teacher of *vyākaraṇa*, a potter, a washerman, a carpenter and a superintendent. Wealthy Brahmans served as temple treasurers, as is evident from an inscription of *Rājarāja* the Great. Further there were alms-houses attached to the temples. Probably the superintendent had to attend to the repairs in the temple buildings. The temple was a regular school in which, from the *Veda* down to technical literature, all subjects were taught. There is evidence of a hostel for students and a hospital attached to the school. Thus the temple became an active centre of both higher learning as well as popular learning. There is every reason to believe that the village temple of the ancient Tamil land was a centre of cultural life.

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¹ *Ep. Report*, 1922-23, p. 104.

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That the tendency to corporate organization extended in course of time is manifest from the Udayendiram plates of Nandivarman Pallavamalla¹ and from an inscription of Jaṭāvarman Sundarapāṇḍya. It was in the direction of a union of more than two villages. But it was purely an internal arrangement enunciated by the respective village assemblies. The following endorsements dated the twenty-sixth year of Parāntaka, the Great, make this point clear; ‘We members of the assembly of Kāñchivāyil and we the members of the assembly of Udaychandira Mangalam have agreed as follows:—We the inhabitants of these two villages having joined and having become one, can prosper as one village from this date.’

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¹ S.I.I., vol, ii, part iii, pp. 361ff. See for more details K. V. Subramania Aiyer, *Historical Sketches of Ancient Dekhan*.

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Besides these corporate groups there were two other important assemblies which could be mentioned in passing. One was the *nāṭṭar* or the District Assembly wherein was discussed subjects which touched the interests of the whole district or *nāḍu*. The other was the assembly of *nagarattār* or an association of merchant people.² This was probably the *śreṇi* or *naigama* organization of Sanskrit literature. Thus, the inscriptional testimony bears witness to the fact that some kind of organized rural administration had been in vogue in South India at least from the days of Nandivarman Pallavamalla, if not earlier as warranted by the Kaśakkuḍi plates of that monarch. After examining these varied aspects of rural administration Dr. S. K. Aiyangar remarks: ‘This strict rotation of offices would give every one of the villagers the chance to acquainting himself with the work of administration of the affairs of his village and make the general community of supervison very efficient in its control of smaller committees. This and the committees for the supervision of justice appear to have been constituted in a way to command respect.’¹

Linked texts (3)

Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
Akanāṉūṟu — Uruttiracaṉmaṉ, Tamil
Puṟanāṉūṟu — Kapilar & Auvaiyār (Caṅkam), Tamil