Studies in Cola History and Administration c8.13

c8.13

Turning now to the evidence from Cōḷa inscriptions, there appear to have been different kinds of village assemblies corresponding to differences in the nature of the villages concerned. The Sabhā strictly so called was the assembly of purely Brahman villages (Brahmadēyas) which usually had names ending in Caturvēdimangalam. We know more of this class of villages and their administration than of others. The other classes may therefore be briefly noticed before we return to a detailed consideration of the Brahmanical Sabhās. Many villages appear to have had an assembly called Ūr. So far, we have not come across any evidence on the details of the organisation of this type of assembly. It appears to have been a kind of primitive gathering of the local people, the descendant of the earlier Tamil manram, in which people met together and managed business somehow without any set rules or formal procedure.