Studies in Cola History and Administration c14.10

c14.10

In the higher branches of the king's service there was then no separation between the civil and military functions of officials. Scions of the royal family often occupied the top places, or held command over expeditionary forces; but there were many high offices, and though we have no evidence of any scientific system of recruitment having prevailed, we can see that these offices were held by men of all castes and creeds, and we may well believe that ordinarily, though birth and high connections brought their own initial advantages, inefficiency was not tolerated, and merit was rewarded according to its deserts. Despite the striking abundance of Cōḷa inscriptions, some of them giving copious details of the administrative methods and machinery of the empire, we possess little knowledge of the forms in which officials in public service were paid for the work they did. We may guess that in the highly developed system of the time, periodical payments, in cash or kind, of amounts fixed in advance, must have been the normal rule, especially in the lower ranks of the public service. Several instances occur, however, which prove that assignments of land, either in full ownership or with title only to particular taxes and dues thereon, formed a common method of recognising distinguished service. High officials, so remunerated and standing well with the king, were great assets to the empire in the days of its strength; in the days of its decline and fall, these very men by their local influence and their turbulence and insubordination hastened the end. It is the aim of this paper to present the life and achievement of one such official in the days when the Cōḷa empire was still strong and flourishing.