Studies in Cola History and Administration c8.5

c8.5

The earliest references of a specific character to village Sabhās in the Tamil land occur in the inscriptions of the close of the 8th century A. D. from the Pāṇḍya and the Pallava countries. The origin and early history of these assemblies is at present very obscure, although their general prevalence over the whole of Southern India including the Cēra, Karṇāṭaka and Telugu countries is widely attested by numerous epigraphs. And the Kēralōtpatti embodies traditions of an organised system of Tarakkūṭṭam, Nāṭṭukkūṭṭam and Peruṅgūṭṭam held in the Kēraḷa from time to time for many centuries till recent times.