The Chola Empire was one of the most important empires of South India during the medieval and ancient period. The Uttarmerur inscription of the Chola king, Parantaka provides detailed information about the local self-governing bodies of Cholas. This inscription established that decentralization of power was an important characteristic of the Chola politic-administration system.
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Basic Information of Chola’s Local Self-governing Bodies
According to the Uttarmerur inscription, the local governing body was known as Sabha or Mahasabha which was the local body in Agrabara village (Brahmanas). There is not much detail about the working or functioning of Ur (villages of Vellalas) and Nagaram (merchant settlement) but it is believed that the bodies like Sabha and Mahasabha were also there in Ur and Nagaram. The tenure of Sabha was one year of 370 days.
Eligibility to Be a Member of These Bodies
There are some eligibility criteria mentioned in the Uttarmerur inscription to be a member of Local self-governing bodies. To participate in the election, a member should be a village resident, the age should be between 35 to 70 years, self-owned house, 1/4th Veli of land & knowledge of one Veda or 1/8th Veli of land & knowledge of one Veda as well as one local language. Apart from these criteria, members need to be free from some disqualification clauses.
These clauses included criminals and their relatives being barred from the election, a person who was a member of the Sabha but did not submit his account was not eligible, and if a person was a member of the Sabha for 3 consecutive years, he could not participate in the election for 4th year. Thus, to be a member of these bodies these were essential qualifications.
Election Process
Each village was divided into 30 wards and one member was elected from these wards. The name of eligible candidates was written on the palm tree’s leaf. These leaves were put in separate pots conclusion. After mixing these leaves, one leaf was taken out from each pot with the help of a kid. These 30 elected members were appointed to different committees of the Sabha to look after various responsibilities.
Democratic Element of Chola’s Local Self-governing Bodies
The concept of representative democracy can be seen in these bodies as members of the Sabha were representative of the village and only village residents can participate in election. The election was open to everyone who fulfilled the eligibility criteria. The election process was transparent and non-discriminatory. Sabha has a fixed tenure of one year and the duties & responsibilities of Sabha were well-defined. All the decisions of the Sabha were taken with majority votes. There was a limitation on the number of tenures to be a member of the Sabha.
Limitations of Democratic Character
There was no provision for a quorum to hold a meeting. The property qualifications ensured that only the rich and Brahmanas could be the members of Sabha. There was no fixed salary and prohibiting criminal relatives was not a democratic characteristic. If critically analyze the process, there was no election as members were chosen through a lottery. The presence of a member appointed by the king to the Sabha adversely affected the autonomous functioning of the Sabha. The Sabha was not allowed to form in the region of Kaveri delta.
Thus, the democratic system of Chola had several limitations but it was a positive step towards the decentralization of governing in India.
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