Uttaramerur Inscription

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• History of Uttaramerur
• What does the Famous Inscription from Parantaka I’s Reign say?
• Important Committees Described in the Inscription
• Analysing the Significance of the Inscription in the Present Times

 

Why in News?

• The Prime Minister of India referred to the Uttaramerur inscription in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, as evidence of India’s history of democratic functioning.
• While Uttaramerur has multiple inscriptions spanning centuries, the most famous one (referred to by the PM) is from the reign of Chola ruler Parantaka I (907-953 AD), providing a detailed description about the village’s self-governance.

 

History of Uttaramerur:

• It is currently a panchayat town situated 90 km south west of Chennai.
• Originally, the Pallava king Nandivarman II (720–796 CE) formally established it as a brahamdeya village around 750 CE.
  • Around 25 inscriptions, spanning reigns of around four Pallava kings, have been found at Uttaramerur.
• In the later part of the 9th century, the Cholas captured the region. There are inscriptions from the period of Parantaka Chola I (907–950), Rajaraja Chola I (985–1014), Rajendra Chola I (1012–1044), etc., indicating various gifts to the temples.
• The region and the village came under the Pandya authority during the 13th century and later the Telugu Chola ruler Vijaya Gandagopala gained control of the territory.

 

What does the Famous Inscription from Parantaka I’s Reign say?

• Found on the walls of the Vaikunda Perumal Temple, the inscription gives details of the functioning of the local sabha, i.e., the village assembly.
  • A sabha was an assembly exclusively of brahmans and had specialised committees tasked with different things.
• It details how members were selected, the required qualifications, their roles and responsibilities, and even the circumstances in which they could be removed.
• As per the inscription, there will be 30 wards and everyone living in these 30 wards would assemble and select one representative for the village assembly/
• The qualifications for such a representative include ownership of a certain amount of land, having a house, being between the age of 35 and 70 and “knowing mantras and Brahmanas” (from the Vedic corpus).
  • An exception can be made on land ownership if the person has learnt at least “one Veda and four Bhashyas”.
• The inscription then lists a number of factors which disqualify someone from consideration.
  • These include not having submitted accounts while previously serving in a committee, committing any of the first four of the five ‘great sins’ -
    • Killing a brahman,
    • Drinking alcohol,
    • Theft and adultery,
    • Being associated with outcastes, and
    • Eating ‘forbidden’ dishes.
  • The representative would be chosen on the basis of an elaborate draw of lots, conducted by priests.

 

 

Important Committees Described in the Inscription:

• The inscription describes a number of important committees within the sabha with their own distinct functions.
• These include,
  • the garden committee,
  • the tank committee,
  • the annual committee (an executive committee which required prior experience and knowledge to be a part of),
  • the committee for supervision of justice (for supervising appointments and wrong doing),
  • the gold committee (in charge of all the gold in the village temple) and
  • the five-fold committee (its role is unclear in the inscription).
• These committee assignments would last for 360 days after which the members would have to retire.

 

Analysing the Significance of the Inscription in the Present Times:

• While the Uttaramerur inscription gives details of local self-governance, it is far from a truly democratic system.
• Not only does it restrict sabha membership to a tiny subsection of land-owning brahmans, it also does not have true elections.
• This does not mean that this inscription should not be cited as a precedent for democratic functioning.
• The present idea of democracy is a fairly recent phenomenon (the US gave universal adult franchise to its population in 1965).
• The Uttaramerur inscription is like a constitution, which details -
  • A system of local self-government, outside the direct authority of the king.
  • Both the responsibilities of members of the sabha as well as the limitations to the authority of these members.
• Thus, if the rule of law is an essential component of a democracy, the Uttaramerur inscription describes a similar concept

 

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Q1) Which is the longest-ruling dynasties in world history?

The Chola dynasty was a Tamil maritime empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in world history. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from the 3rd century BCE. The dynasty continued to govern over varying territories until the 13th century CE.

 

Q2) Who was Parantaka I?

Parantaka Chola I (873 CE–955 CE) was a Chola emperor who ruled for forty-eight years, annexing Pandya by defeating Rajasimhan II and in the deccan won the battle of Vallala against Rashtrakutas which happened before 916 CE.

 

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Source: What the Uttaramerur inscription, recently referred to by PM Modi, says