Studies in Cola History and Administration c8.20

c8.20

Attention may be drawn here to the striking analogy between two of these terms from the Tamil inscriptions and the words *Paura* and *Jānapada* which have attracted attention after Mr. Jayaswal stated his theory that these were constitutional assemblies intended to limit the sway of autocracy in municipal and provincial administration. The expressions *Nāṭṭār* and *Nagarattār* are strikingly analogous to *Jānapada* and *Paura* respectively; in fact, no better rendering into Tamil of these Sanskrit terms can be imagined. And the evidence of the Tamil inscriptions is conclusive that the *Nāḍu* and the *Nagaram* were corporate organisations of some sort which performed definite duties and enjoyed the privileges of autonomy. There is also literary usage in support of our view of the relation of these Tamil terms to their Sanskrit analogues. Thus what the celebrated annotator Parimēlaḻagar calls *nāṭṭuppaḍai* † will be seen to correspond to what Kauṭilya calls *Śrēṇibalam* and describes as *Jānapadam*. But the analogy between these two sets of terms cannot be pressed far, as there seem to be no terms in the Sanskrit literature on polity corresponding to the other bodies known to Tamil epigraphy.