King was the most important person in the Chola administration. All authority rested in his hands. He often went on tours in order to Reep Better touch with the administration. The king was atded and advised by a council of ministers who held office at the pleasure of the king. There was a fully developed secretariat to oversee the functioning of Central administration.
There were two types of villages at the local level in the Chola empire. One type of village consisted of people form different castes and the assembly which ran this type of village was called ‘ur. The second type of village was ‘agrahara’ type of village which were settled by brahmins in which most of the land was rent-free. The assembly of this agrahara type of village was a gathering of the adult men in brahmana villages called Sabha’ or ‘Mahasabha.
These villages enjoyed a large measure of autonomy. The affairs of the village were managed by an executive committee to which educated person owning property were elected eit by drawing lots or by rotation. These members had to retire every three years. There were other committees for helping in the assessment and collection of land revenue for the maintenance of law and order, justice, etc.
One of the important committee was the tank committee which looked after the distribution of water to the fields. The mahasabha could settle new lands and exercise ownership rights over them. It could also raise loans for the village and levy taxes.
The self-government enjoyed by the Chola villages was a very fine system. However, the growth of feudalism tended to restrict their autonomy. The Chola Empire was divided into Mandalams (provinces). These Mandalams were further divided into Valanadus (districts). The tax on the land was collected by the village assemblies.
The village assemblies were responsible for maintaining tanks used for agricultural prosperity. There are three types of village assemblies. These were the ur, sabha or mahasabha and nagaram. The ur was the assembly of common villagers. The sabha was the assembly of learned Brahmins.
The nagaram was the as smbly of merchants, traders and artisans. The Uttarmerur temple inscription gives a detailed description of the functioning of these assemblies. There were provisions of land survey, Classification of various types of lands and assessment of land revenue. Chola rulers built a network of roads for the purpose of trade and communication.
The whole empire had been divided into nine provinces called mandalams. Each province was headed by a viceroy who received orders from the king. Each mandalam was divided into number of Kottams or Valanadus which was further sub-divided into nadu. Each nadu was further divided into villages called Urs.
Chola government depended mainly on the land revenue as the main source of income. of the land produce was collected as tax. Besides land revenue, customs and tolls were the other source of income for the empire. Moreover, taxes on ports, forests and mites confibuted to the treasure of the lang. The Cholas possessed an efficient army and navy. The army was made of 70 regiments. Chola kings imported highly efficient Arabian Horses at a very high price
The Chola king acted as the chief justice, as the trial in major cases were conducted by the king himself. The minor disputes at the village level were heard by the village assembly. One of the most important administrative units of the Cholas was Nadh. Eachinadu was headed by a Nattap while the council of nadu was named attavai. The responsibility of the village administration was entrusted to the village assembly called Grama Sabha, the lowest unit of the Chola administration.
It was involved in he maintenance of roads, tanks, temples and public ponds. The village assembly was also in charge of payment of taxes due from the villages to the King’s treasure.
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