Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 112

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUAY
MAY, 19%
BOOK-NOTICE. HINDU ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH best, and in the fulleat working order, chiefly owing
INDIA, by Rao Bahadur S. K. Aiyangar, M.A., to the fulness of information available for the parti. Ph.D. Published by the Madras University. cular period. This work constitutes the course of Sir William
The next lecture gives in outline the system in Meyer lectures for the year 1929-30 delivered to the
working order under the Cholas. It is there exhi. University of Madras by Professor S. Krishnaswami
bited as a fully developed system of local government Aiyangar. They constitute a course of six lectures,
subject to the control, as it would seen the mini. the object of which is to examine the gradual process
mum control, of the provincial governors, the cen. of the origin and growth of the administrative
tral government interfering effectively generally institutions under Hindu rule in South India. That
only on appeal. The information is all collected the administrative institutions of this country have
from the large number of inscriptions scattered A character of their own, notwithstanding & cons. through the Tamil country containing various of derable similarity of principle between these and
these details. In a number of instances these seem those of northern India has already been made
to be brought together in official communications of clear by the same writer years ago. In this course, din
se, different kinds, and when these are in actual use, he makes a more systematic examination and
they supply us with extracts from the elaborate utilises the information which has become available
registers and official records maintained by the since then and leads to a more or less complete
government. These exhibit the system as it ob study of the subject.
tained under the Chola empire; the whole practical Starting from the established fact that South
administration was in the hands of rural commun. India, India south of the Krishna, constituted in
ties consisting either of large single villages, or of many particulars a separate and distinct division
unions of villages constituting groups. These took of India, the lecturer proceeds by a careful exami.
cognisance of practically all departments of civil nation of Early Tamil literature to discover the
administration, revenue, judicial, irrigation, D.P.W., rudiments of these institutions in early Tamil India.
etc., and were actually managed by committees While he collects together and explains the scattered
elected by the inhabitants of villages under rocogreferences to these, and hints at some of those that
nised rules of franchise and procedure. An import have become more prominent later, he subjects
ant appendix to this section gives the text and these to an examination in the light of one section
translation of a circular issued pretty early in the of the great clasio, Kural, which devotes itselt to period under the xrent ruler Parantaka I. These the second of the four ends of existence, namely
communities and committees exercised extensive wealth. This book, by far the largest, constituting
powers, and from the material presentod, it seems the second of the three large sections of the Kural,
clear that these bodies discharged their responsibi. constitutes by itself an Arthandstra comparable to litiey very satisfactorily on the whole. that of Kautilya, though much closer in point of its
Having given a picture of the administration at attitude to society than the political chapters of the
its best, the next lecture exhibits the condition of Dharmasdetras generally.
this administration through the period of confusion These two topics provide the necessary back
following the Muhammadan invasions and the singleground from which to proceed. There is then an
minded struggle to keep that part of the country examination of the references to administrativo
free from Muhammadan domination. The admnini. institutions in the few Pallava inscriptions that
stration of the various parts constituting the Vijaya. have been brought to notice, followed by another
nagar empire from the middle of the fourteenth chapter on the records of the age of the Great
century to the middle of the eightoenth shows & Pallaves, where these institutions show A greater
successful effort at reparation, and conservation of development, and the information available also
the system as it obtained in the previous age. becomes more full. The inscriptional material
The course of lectures, on the whole, gives us a Available is analysed, commented upon and dis
well-documented picture of the administration an it cussed to make the details more intelligible than
actually obtained, and gives us an ideu, a much they are as they are found in the published inscrip
fuller idea than any we have hitherto had, of a tions of the department of Epigraphy. In the age
system of Indian administration. In the conclud. of the Pallavas, extending from 300 to 900, these
ing pages attention is drawn to efforts at rural re. show a greater development, and a more extensivo
construction in modern times, what the ultimate growth in the Tamil country. When, therefore, we
aims of such rural reconstruction are intended to be, pass from out of the Pallava dominanco into the
And how far the system of rural administration as period of the Chola ascendency, we are already pro
it obtained under Hindu rulo comes up to the ideals vided with a set of institutions fairly complete and
of modern administrative reform. It is an illuminat. self-sufficient. Though these received their com
ing course of lectures quite worthy of the author plete developinent under the Chola empire extending from, or a little before, 900 to 1350, it is under the
and the founder of the endowment. Cholas that these institutions are seen at their
D. R. BHANDARKAR.