DISCUSS THE MAIN

FEATURES OF CHOLA
ADMINISTRATION. HOW
DID IT WORK AT THE
VILLAGE LEVEL?

Contents

Chola Polity and administration...................................................................... 3

Village Assemblies ............................................................................................. 5

Ur .......................................................................................................................... 7

Sabha .................................................................................................................... 8

Nagaram .............................................................................................................. 9

Revenue ............................................................................................................. 10

Army .................................................................................................................. 11

Conclusion......................................................................................................... 12

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After the decline of the Gupta Empire, the main kingdoms

vying for control over southern India were the Pallavas,

Pandayas and the Cholas. The Cholas after years of bitter

struggle emerged as the dominant force and set up a southern

empire.

The Chola dynasty, began in 950, was one of the most popular

dynasties of South India which ruled over Tamil Nadu and

parts of Karnataka with Tanjore as its capital. Chola history can

be reconstructed in considerable detail because of the vast

number of inscriptions issued not only by the royal family but

also by temple authorities, village councils and guilds.

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 Chola Polity and administration

In the Chola administration, the Emperor was the axle on

which the state’s machinery revolved. He governed the state

with the advice and help of his council of ministers and other

important officers and state dignitaries. The Chola inscriptions

prove that the system of administration was highly organised

on highly efficient lines. The verbal orders of the Emperor were

drafted by the Royal or private Secretary.

The system of hereditary succession to the throne was

occasionally modified by the ruling king’s choice in the matter,

as a younger prince, or a yuvraj could well be preferred over

his seniors. The princes were associated with the ruling

sovereigns and were actively involved in state affairs. The

absolutism of monarchy was supported both by a ministerial

council and by an organised administrative staff. The head of

each department was in close contact with the king, and often

consulted by him. Royal tours contributed to the efficiency of

the administration and the officers were paid land assignments,

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and honoured and encouraged by the bestowal of important

titles. Administrative activities, as well as military and trade

movements, were facilitated by the construction of trunk roads.

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 Village Assemblies

The village was the primary unit of society and polity in the

Chola kingdom. Burton Stein has pointed out that the idea of a

village being a self-sufficient unit was a myth. Groups of

villages formed larger units called nadus. The village

administration gradually grew from comprising a simple group

of people to the more elaborate and complicated machinery of

committees and officials that have been described in the Chola

inscriptions of the 10th and 11th centuries.

Public revenue was derived mainly from land and collected in

kind, or in cash, or in both, by village assemblies. Land was

possessed by individuals and communities. Agricultural

prosperity was ensured by the special attention given to the

field of irrigation by the government as well as by local

authorities. Village assemblies supervised the maintenance of

tanks and were also entrusted with the task of reclaiming

forests and wastelands.

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The autonomous village level organs of
power were of 3 types:

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 Ur

 It was an assembly of all landholders in the village.

 It was evidently a village assembly of a commoner kind,

where land was held by all classes of people who were entitled

to membership in the local assembly.

 It consisted of the tax-paying inhabits of an ordinary village.

 It was open to all the taxpaying adults of the village, but in

effect, the older members played a prominent role by forming a

small executive body called alunganam, whose numerical

strength and the manner of the appointment of its members

was not clear.

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 Sabha
 They were functional only in exclusively Brahmin-inhabited

villages.

 It had more complex machinery, as it functioned largely

through committees called Variyams.

 It possessed proprietary rights over communal land that

was either jointly held or was a group or community

possession.

 Privately owned land also came under the jurisdiction of the

Sabha.

 The Sabha was also concerned with the reclamation of forest

and wastelands.

 The collection of land revenue was one of the most

important tasks entrusted to Sabha.

 Each Sabha had a small staff of paid servants, who assisted

the committees of the Sabha in their work and maintained the

records of the village.

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 Nagaram

 It consisted of local traders and merchants.

 They were found more commonly in cities and towns which

were important centres of trade.

The assemblies had various tasks at hand:

 To collect the land revenue

 To levy additional taxes for specific purposes

 To settle agrarian disputes over duration of tenure and

irrigation rights

 To maintain records pertaining to donations and taxes

 To maintain tanks and reclaim forest and wastelands.

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 Revenue

The state’s demand of land revenue was fixed at 1/3rd of the

production after an elaborate land survey made in the time of

Rajaraja I. There were periodical revisions of the irrigation

taxes.

In order to ensure agricultural prosperity special attention was

given to providing people with better irrigation facilities by the

state as well as by the local authorities. The Cholas spent huge

amounts on building canals, tanks, dams, and wells. Rajendra I

dug an artificial lake near his new capital called

Gangaikondacholapuram.

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 Army

The Chola army had a very strong navy. According to Sastri,

the central government concerned itself with matters like:

 External defence

 The maintenance of peace and order

 Ensuring the general prosperity and cultural progress of the

empire

Most other matters were left to smaller village assemblies, with

the central government intervening only in the matters of

conflict or exceptionally difficult or trying situations.

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 Conclusion

To conclude, the administration of villages was well organised

on popular lines conducive to the progress and prosperity of

their inhabitants.

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