Local Government in Ancient India c15.29

c15.29

We have now considered the growth of local administration in ancient India in its various aspects and spheres of activity, together with the machinery of government evolved to cope with the manifold interests of communal life in ordinary and normal times and situations. But the test of the efficiency of a government lies in its capacity to deal with extraordinary circumstances and abnormal situations and to develop a proper degree of public spirit in the governed. There are numerous proofs and instances on record which will enable us to conclude that, judged by those two tests of government and the criteria of its efficiency, our ancient system of local administration will not be found to be wanting or to break down. In trying times and exceptional situations, such as those of a famine for example, we find that the assemblies rise to the occasion and to a full sense of their responsibilities in that regard. A South Indian inscription of about a. d. 1054, for instance, records how a village, being visited by a famine, the assembly of the village, expecting no succour from the king, themselves moved in the matter of securing relief for the people. They secured a loan of 1011 *kalañju* of gold and 464 *palam* of silver in jewellery and vessels from the local temple to which they mortgaged 8¾ *veli* of the common lands of the village, from the produce of which the interest on the loan was to be paid (*Mad. Ep. Rep.*, 1899–1900, p. 20). Another case of famine is reported in the reign of Kulottuṅga Cola III in inscriptions nos. 274 and 279 of 1909 (*Mad. Ep. Rep.*, 1909–10, p. 95) when the assembly of Tirukkacchūr borrowed 15 *kāśu* of a generous individual, and for interest gave him a piece of land belonging to the whole village, the government dues on which they themselves paid. Thus where there was even no remission of taxes by government the assembly were more mindful of their duties. The private person was a generous donor who provided for temple worship, seeing it was neglected during the time of the famine. No. 397 of 1913 also records a similar case of famine, or ‘bad time and scarcity of grain’, and a loan which was arranged by the assembly to tide over the difficulty by borrowing from the temple treasury sums amounting to 60 *kāśu* with interest at 2 *tūṇi* and 3 *kuruṇi* of paddy on 1 *kāśu*. No. 353 of 1909 records another interesting case. Rājendra-Deva (A.D. 1052) paid some gold to an assembly for building a stone temple. They had built five *aṅgas* of the temple for half the money when famine occurred and the assembly could neither complete it nor return the money. The temple authorities complained against them, and the assembly was eventually let off on supplying an image of the god found wanting in the temple. This is another case of royal indifference, contrasted with the assembly’s concern in the matter of the popular weal.