Studies in Cola History and Administration c10.38

c10.38

The amplitude of the functions exercised by the *Sabhā* and its sustained regard for the physical and cultural amenities then available to the inhabitants of the locality are fully borne out by our inscriptions which range over nearly five centuries. A careful study of the details recorded in them will not fail to convey the impression that during these centuries the people of Uttaramerūr were, to a very large extent, left free to work out their own destinies without let or hindrance and that, on the whole, they seem to have done this very well indeed. It would be too long a task to write out fully the innumerable little details that help to form the impression. Attention may be drawn, however, to some of the more salient aspects of local life in which the *Sabhā* evinced an interest. Incidentally, we shall touch upon some aspects of the *Sabhā's* administration which cannot be more adequately treated in the present state of our knowledge, or rather the lack of it.