Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 80

72
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[APRIL, 1916
The primitive and inexpensive nature of the administration.
A state policy of education is an entirely new idea in India, a product of the western system of administration and ideals of government. In the middle ages it was a purely private concern. It was moreover a luxury, more an accomplishment than a necessity. We can well believe that pial schools gave elementary education in every village to children of all castes, but this was due to the intellectual enterprise of individual men and not to state support. Even the little education that was thus prevalent was a Brahman tradition, a Brahman monopoly. With characteristic acuteness he made the best of what he could get and availed himself of the magnificent endowments made by the Karta to temples and Mats, to agraharams and charity-houses. Here he obtained free board and lodging, and free from the cares of livelihood, devoted himself to intellectual pursuits. Every temple or Matt became a stronghold of learning, and the sonorous chant of the Vedas incessantly filled the atmosphere. The Jesuit authorities3 describe an institution subsidised liberally by the State in Madura, where thousands, boys as well as adults, received education, besides free board and lodging, and distinguished themselves as students of the many-sided culture of India. The history of the Nâik dynasty, in fact, is the history of Brahman ascendancy. The royal assembly witnessed frequent controversies on religious and literary questions, and arguments and counter-arguments mixed in incongruous jumble with the flattery of courtiers and the bustle of the Darbar. The only educated class in the kingdom, the Brahmans naturally became the advisers of the crown, the officers of State and leaders of the people. They were ministers, accountants, râyasams and even military leaders. They were supreme in secular and religious affairs. They were the spiritual guides of the king, the managers of temples, the directors of the king's charities, the organizers of temple festivities, and the moral guardians of the people. And on the whole they justified, to a marvellous degree, the responsible trust placed in them, the confidence of the Karta and the respect of the people. They faithfully represented the public opinion of the country, and served as excellent mediators between the crown and the populace. And all this was due to the absence of a State policy of education and of the singular facility of the Brahman for obtaining it. The police organization was equally limited and inexpensive. The villages and towns had their own police officers. The Karta's kaval or police function was confined to the maintenance of public roads in safety and the keeping of peace between different villages. He generally entrusted these to the Polygars, and they received the kaval rights for their police duties, a plan which was both economical and wise. There were indeed times when the Polygars were inefficient in the discharge of their kâval duties and when, therefore, travelling was unsafe, trade precarious, and security of life and property uncertain; but the arrangement made by Viśvanâtha was the best under the circumstances; and if under later rulers the Polygars were at times remiss, it was due to the incompetence of the former and not to the want of wisdom on the part of the founder of the dynasty. As regards justice it has been already pointed out that every community had its own caste heads, who meted out justice to those in dispute in regard to social and religious matters. In the pâlayams the Polygars presided over the administration of the justice, both civil and criminal, and heard appeals from the decisions, village Panchayats, and in the Karta's lands the local officers did so. As there were no special law courts and as the institution of suits was often of no use to the litigants, most cases were decided by the system of arbitration, intervention by friends, the appeal to divine
Robert de Nobili, writing in 1610. See Madura Gazr., p. 175 and Nelson's Madura Manual.