PALLAVA ADMINISTRATION

PALLAVA ADMINISTRATION


Kingship was attributed to define origin. The kings claimed their

descent from the God Brahma. It has hereditary. Yet, on one occasion

a king was elected. Most of the kings were accomplished scholars.

Mahendravarman I wrote the famous burlesque, Masttavilasa

Prahsana. Many of the vaishnava alvars and saiva nayanars flourished

during their rule.

The kings adopted high-sounding titles like maharajadhiraja, dharmamaharjadhiraja

(great king of kings rulling in accordance with the

dharma), agnistomavajpeya, asvamedha-yaji (he who has performed

the agnithtoma-vajapeya and asvamedha sacrifices) They were

assisted by ministers. History shows that the ministerial council played

a great part in the state policy in the later period.

A hierarchy of officials in provincial administration, the governor ofa

province was assisted by district officers, who in turn worked in

collaboration with automous local bodies. In local administration the

meeting of assembles were frequent, and the administration the

meeting of assemblies were frequent, and the assemblies were of

many varieities and of many levels. Often special meetings were held.

As the village levelthe assembly was the sabha which looked after

almost all the matters of the village, along with endowments,

irrigation, crime, maintaining census and other necessary records,

Courts at villages level dealt with minor criminal cases. The judicial

courts of the town and districts were presided over by government

officials, climaxing with the king as the supreme arbiter of justice. The

sabha worked in close association with the urar, and informal

gathering of the entire village. Above this unit was a district

administration. Finally, the head man of the villages was the link

between the village assembly and the official administration.

Theoretically the king owned the land. The status of a village

depended on the prevalent land tenure. The fist variety was the village

with inter-caste population where in the people paid taxes to the king.

The second was the brahmadeya village in which the entire land was

donated to a single Brahmin or a group of brahmins. A variation of this

village was the agrahars grant which, was an entire village settlement

of brahmins. Both these forms were exempt from royal taxes. In the

devadana village the revenue was donated to a temple, and the

temple authorities in turn provided employment for the villagers in the

Wherever you go, go with all your heart. 23/26

temple whenever possible. In the Pallava period the first two

categories of villages were in vogue.

Apart from these major points relating to land there was a special

category of land, the sripatti or tank land. The revenue from such a

land was sent apart for the maintenance of the village tank. The tank

itself was built by the efforts of the entire village. All shared the water

stored in the tank. Very many inscriptions of the Pallavas refer to the

up-keep of tanks.

There are two Points about taxes. The land revenue varied from onesixth

to one tenth of the produce of the land. This was paid to the

State. The local taxes that were collected in a village were spent for

the needs of the village. As land revenue was necessarily small, the

State revenue was supplemented by additional taxes on draught

cattle, marriage-parties, potters, makers of clarified butter, textile

manufacturers, washermen and weavers. The major source of revenue

was from land, since the revenue from mercantile activity was not fully

exploited.

Regarding expenditure, most to the revenue want for the maintenance

of army. The king preferred a standing army instead of feudal levie.

The army primarily consisting of food soldiers and cavalry along with a

sprinkling of elephants. Indeed the Pallavas developed a navy although

the mercantile activity was not great. Two dockyards were built at

Mahablipuram and Nagabatnam. This pioneeringh effort of the Pallavas

reached its climax during the days of cholas. The navy served a double

purpose. It was meant for defence and also assisted the maritime

trade with sout-east Asia, particularly with the three kingdoms of

Kambuja (Cambodia) Champa (Annam) and Shrivijaya (Malayan

peninsula and Sumatra).