Local Government in Ancient India c12.20

c12.20

An inscription of Rājarāja I mentions a ‘big tank’ at Bāhūr, near Pondicherry, where the villagers agreed to contribute towards the maintenance of the tank. The tank committee of the assembly levied the contributions and undertook annual removal of the silt. Any villager refusing to pay had to pay a fine to be credited to the tank-fund under king’s orders. An Ukkal inscription [see p. 150 above] refers to the sale of some land to a private person by the village assembly, who were to provide out of its income for the up-keep of two boats assigned to a tank. The boats were probably meant not only for crossing purposes, as explained by Dr. Hultzsch (*S. I. Ins.*, vol. III, p. 15), but also for the usual work of removing the silt. No. 23 of 1893 mentions the imposition by the tank committee of an impost on betel-leaf sellers in order to construct a tank-bund.