Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s4.32

c12.s4.32

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