THE IMPORTANCE OF THE VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION DURING THE CHOLA PERIOD (Pages 100-105) by Ms. P. Kalaimagal* and Dr. M. Raja Raveendran ** in THE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SPECIALIST / ISSN: 2350-1499 (Online); 2350-0751 (Print)

In the Chola period villages are formed in the administrative unit. The basic premise in the concept of village autonomy of the Cholas was that the villagers should administer their villages themselves. A village would consist of wards, each wad having an assembly of its members some of whom could also be members of a professional body such as smiths or carpenters or part of a group looking after other village functions like the maintenance of the local temple. The general assembly’s were of three types, The Ur, comprising of the tax- paying residents of a ordinary village. The Sabha, whose membership was open only to the Brahmas of the village or else was found exclusively in villages gifted to Brahmans. The Nagaram, generally found in centers of trade and commerce, since it was devoted entirely to serving the interests of the mercantile community, a tenth century inscription on a temple wall of the Brahman village of Uttaramerur gives the details of how the local sabha worked. There was an election for the wards. The contester must have some qualifications. He must own more than one quarter of the tax-paying land. He must line in a house built on his own site. His age must be below seventy and above thirty five. The election system on the basis of the Kudavolai system, taxes were. Collected by the administrative committees, tax for the government was collected by the assembly from its members, in some instances it was the tax for the entire village taken as a whole. The revenue was collected by the assembly, from which the feudatory remitted the king’s share. This system was followed only in the Chola kingdom.n the Chola period villages are formed in the administrative unit. The basic premise in the concept of village autonomy of the Cholas was that the villagers should administer their villages themselves. A village would consist of wards, each wad having an assembly of its members some of whom could also be members of a professional body such as smiths or carpenters or part of a group looking after other village functions like the maintenance of the local temple. The general assembly’s were of three types, The Ur, comprising of the tax- paying residents of a ordinary village. The Sabha, whose membership was open only to the Brahmas of the village or else was found exclusively in villages gifted to Brahmans. The Nagaram, generally found in centers of trade and commerce, since it was devoted entirely to serving the interests of the mercantile community, a tenth century inscription on a temple wall of the Brahman village of Uttaramerur gives the details of how the local sabha worked. There was an election for the wards. The contester must have some qualifications. He must own more than one quarter of the tax-paying land. He must line in a house built on his own site. His age must be below seventy and above thirty five. The election system on the basis of the Kudavolai system, taxes were. Collected by the administrative committees, tax for the government was collected by the assembly from its members, in some instances it was the tax for the entire village taken as a whole. The revenue was collected by the assembly, from which the feudatory remitted the king’s share. This system was followed only in the Chola kingdom.Keywords: Chola period, the administrative unit, village autonomy, professional body, mercantile community, tenth century inscription, Kudavolai system etc.