Millennium inscriptions shed light on polling system of Tamils
Over a thousand years ago, Tamils had in place a properly documented system for elections and a 30member ‘sabha’ for a village.
The town of Uthiramerur, south of Chennai, has several inscriptions from the time of Parantaka Chola in 920 AD that talk about how a pot was used to collect the names of eligible candidates for the sabha, comprising representatives from 30 wards in a village. These inscriptions at the Sri Vaikuntha Perumal Temple still remain significant, say locals.
“The inscriptions were mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki baat speech. Steps must be taken to prevent the temple from getting flooded during rain,” said
C. Premkumar, a resident.
Archaeologist and historian R. Nagaswamy in his book Uttaramerur talks about how the village was first established by Pallava ruler Nandivarman around 750 AD.
To represent the sabha, one had to be aged between 3570, possess half veli of taxpaying land, and a house built on a legally owned land. Among the disqualifications, the one relating to management of public accounts tops the list. The term of office was for 360 days and one had to wait for three years for reelection. Temple historian Pradeep Chakravathy said while the inscriptions from the time of King Parantaka Chola I (907955 CE) were the most detailed, there were some others that predate them from the period of Pallava King Dantivarman (795846 CE) and his successor Nandivarman III (846869 CE). These inscriptions mention the existence of two village assemblies, the sabha (consisting of the priestly class) and the Ur (comprising the agricultural and other village communities).
However, it was during the time of Parantaka I that the system was honed into a more detailed election process, he added.