Studies in Cola History and Administration c10.27

c10.27

marked off from one another. The *Sabhā* was indeed the most considerable among them all; but it had to respect the privileges, even the susceptibilities, of the numerous other *gaṇas* and associations of a voluntary and quasi-public character, of the hereditary caste and trade corporations and so on, and might itself be called upon to explain its default in particular matters by the associations affected by it. Almost every sphere of life was so dominated by group-organisations that the individual was of little account and had to function through some group or other. There was no written law, or even a distinctly formulated principle intended to govern the conduct of these groups; they acted for the most part in their separate spheres of social work, and came together occasionally for considering specific questions of common concern. In this manner they found it possible to evolve a workable procedure to secure mutual understanding and adjustment. And in the days when there existed an organised central government not altogether lacking in executive strength—this was the rule under the Cōḷa kings—the power of the king and his officials was a sort of reserve in the background to be drawn upon when the forces of local regulation failed to function properly or, in extreme cases, broke down altogether.