The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s1.t2.1

c10.s1.t2.1

We know of forty villages during the reign of the Chola Emperor Râja-râja I (985—1013) in which the villagers as a body managed their own affairs.³ It was in public meetings that the business was conducted. Earlier, in Parântaka I's time (907—948) we hear of a "full meeting of the great assembly, including young and old". Evidently there was a General Assembly for the entire village and this central *panchâyat* seems to have been sub-divided into several committees or sub-*panchâyats*. There was an annual committee in addition to four separate committees on gardens, tanks, gold and justice. And finally there was a committee styled *pancha-vara*. It was intended most probably for general supervision or possibly for the collection of a special tax.⁴