Studies in Cola History and Administration c8.23

c8.23

We may also note that in the Pallava charters we get some clear information about the Nāḍu and its role in the general administration. The Kaśākuḍi plates of Nandivarman Pallavamalla have at the beginning of the Tamil part "Kōn-ōlai, yāṇḍirupattiraṇḍāvadu, ūṟrukkāṭṭuk-kōṭṭattu nāṭṭaruṅgāṇka,"—"Royal order, year 22nd, may the nāṭṭār of the Ūṟrukkāṭṭu-kkōṭṭam also see." A few lines further on, we have a clear statement ‡ that the members of the Nāḍu (nāṭṭōm) saw the royal order and assigned lands in accordance with the wishes of the Nāṭṭu-viyavan who may have been either the headman of the Nāḍu (assembly) as Hultzsch understands it, or possibly a royal official placed over the administrative divison. That the Nāḍu was an organised assembly of a more or less popular character is strikingly indicated by the phrase Nāṭṭai-kkūṭṭi-nila-naḍappittu etc., of the Udayēndiram plates of Hastimalla. ¶