Local Government in Ancient India c15.19

c15.19

In addition to the colleges for students, and colonies of advanced scholars, we sometimes find the assembly itself directly performing some kind of educational work. No. 198 of 1919 records the interesting case of an assembly holding a special meeting in response to a royal order which requested them to adjudge the merits of a literary work composed by a poet. The work was recited before the assembly, and the author obtained as the reward for his labours a grant of land to be held in perpetual ownership. 'Students of Tamil literature may find here a lingering literary tradition of the more ancient Dravidian *sangam* established in Madura to scrutinize the works of Tamil poets and advance the cause of Tamil literature.' (*Mad. Ep. Rep.* for 1919, p. 98.)