1. Village (local self) Administration : An important feature of the Chola administration was the village autonomy. People of a village looked after administration through their own elected bodies. The Chola inscriptions mention the existence of two types of villages Ur and Brahmadeya Villages. Ur had its own local assembly, consisting of all the male members of the village excluding untouchables.
It looked after all aspects of the village administration. The Brahmadeya villages (Agraharas) were granted by the King to learned brahmins. They had their own assemblies called Mahasabhas, which had complete freedom in governance.
Uttarameruru inscription of Paratanka – I, gives us detailed information about the village administration. (Uttarameruru is in the Chengulpet district of Tamilnadu). The villages enjoyed complete independence in the management of local affairs. Two kinds of assemblies existed which were.
- Ur or Urar (kuri) and
- The Mahasabha.
According to the Uttarameruru inscription, Uttarameruru village was divided into 30 parts (Kudumbu). One member from each unit was elected for a ** of one year. The representatives of the people were elected through a lucky draw (Kuduvalai) system.
Villagers assembled in the temple and conducted an election through a lucky draw. The names of the candidates were written on palm leaves and put in a ***. Then a small boy was asked to pick out the leaves one after the other in the presence of the people and thus the representatives were elected.
Elected representatives had to work in the Annual, Garden (Tottavariyam) and Tank Bund (Erivariyam) committees called ‘VariyamsU The representatives were called ‘Variya PerumakkaP. The village assemblies were autonomous and democratic institutions.
2. Duties of the committees : The village committees performed duties like the protection of the village properties, collection of taxes and the protection of temples, lakes, groves, and forests, etc. The resolutions of the committees were written down. The central administration did not interfere in the village administration.
3. Minimum qualifications of members : The Uttarameruru inscription deals with rules and regulations regarding the election, the qualifications and disqualifications of members. These committees worked for 360 days when fresh elections were held.
Qualifications needed for a member to be elected:
- The candidate should possess a minimum of 1/2 acre of taxable land.
- He should reside in his own house built on his own site.
- Candidate should be more than 35 years old and less than 70 years of age.
- Candidate should have knowledge of Vedas, Brahmanakas, and Commerce.
- Candidate should possess a good character.
Disqualifications of members :
- A member was disqualified for reelection, if he had been a member of any committee continuously for the previous 3 years.
- Those who were in the committee and who had not submitted accounts and their close relatives.
- Persons who were wicked, cheats, alcoholics, thieves, accused of murdering brahmins and committing adultery.
This way, certain minimum qualifications, and disqualifications were enforced in the village administration. Scholars have termed the Chola village administration as “Small Democratic States”.
