Studies in Cola History and Administration c12.47

c12.47

Before taking up ‘B’ for consideration, the results of the foregoing discussion may be summed up. There is nothing to support Venkayya's view that ‘A’ embodies a reform of the administration of Uttaramerūr undertaken and carried out by the Cōḷa king Parāntaka I to rescue it from the corruption and inefficiency caused by wicked men having gained control of it. For its plausibility this veiw depends on (a) a too literal understanding of the general phrase at the end of ‘A’: ‘so that the wicked may perish and the good prosper’, which gives the rationale of all government and regulation, and (b) a reading into the earlier record of notions derived from the later one about embezzlement of public funds and failure to submit accounts. If we put aside the false suggestions arising from these faulty steps—even ‘B’ speaks only of accounts not being submitted, not of embezzlement (end of l. 4)—we see clearly the nature of the rules governing service on committees, and realise that, far from being the result of indignation against particular persons who had ruined the village and the management of its affairs, they are only dominated by a natural desire to afford equal opportunities of service to all eligible men.