Local Government in Ancient India c15.30

c15.30

Most of the famines mentioned relate to the time of the decline of Coḷa power towards the latter part of the reign of Kulottuṅga III, who reigned from about a. d. 1287 to 1327, when there was considerable unrest in the country. One of the signs of that unrest or unsettlement is indicated in no. 264 of 1913 (*Mad. Ep. Rep.*, 1913–14, p. 30), which registers the gift of a lamp, oil, and wicks to be provided out of the interest on 1,100 *kāśu* deposited only for a fixed period of five years and not permanently, so that the assembly had to produce the amount of the deposit every five years before it was renewed. This condition betrays a want of confidence and a sense of insecurity due to the weakening of the central authority in the country. Even temples had to part with their jewellery to pay for the cost of erecting certain necessary structures during those days of famine in the reign of Kulottuṅga III (see no. 458 of 1913). In such hard times it is refreshing to observe proofs that the local administration did not break down. When the strong arm of a vigorous central government was withdrawn, we find a local administrative body stepping forward to afford full protection to the people under its charge in the disturbed state of the country. No. 273 of 1914 states that 'the assembled people (*nāḍu*) of Valla-nāḍu declared that thenceforward they will afford protection to the cultivators residing within the four boundaries of the sacred village of Tiruvaraṅgulam and its *devadāna* villages. If in the course of this protection any one of the assembly was found to rob, capture the cows of the cultivators, or do other mischief to them, the assembly agreed to assign two *mā* of wet land to the temple by way of fine for the offence committed' (*Mad. Ep. Rep.*, 1914-15, p. 99).