Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

Uttaramerur Inscription
http://www.geocities.com/ifihhome/articles/uttaramerur.html


Recording the Mode of Election

to Village Assemblies

Tenth Century A.D.





Uttaramerur inscription, found in the village by this name in
Chengalpattu district south of Chennai, has been studied and
commented upon by many authorities, such as K. A. Nilakanta Sastri,
S. Krishnaswamy Iyengar. A point-by-point commentary by Dr. R.
Nagaswamy, who kindly provided IFIH with this translation of the
inscription, will be added to this webpage soon.)





King

Parakesarivarman, who conquered Madurai.

Date

On the sixteenth day of the fourteenth year.

Royal Order

Whereas a royal letter of His Majesty, our lord, the glorious
Viranarayana, the illustrious Parantakadeva, the prosperous
Parkesarivarman, was received and was shown to us,

The Village

We, the members of the assembly of Uttaramerur-caturvedi-mangalam in
its own subdivision of Kaliyurkottam,

Officer Present

Karanjai Kondaya-Kramavitta bhattan alias Somasiperuman of
Srivanganagar in Purangarambainadu, a district of the Chola country,

Settlement

Sitting with us and convening the committee in accordance with the
royal command, made a settlement as follows according to the terms
of the royal letter for choosing once every year from this year
forward members for the “Annual Committee”, “Garden Committee”,
and “Tank Committee” :

Wards

There shall be thirty wards,

Qualifications

In these thirty wards, those that live in each ward shall assemble
and shall choose for “pot-tickets” (Kudav Olai) anyone possessing
the following qualifications :

(a) He must own more than a quarter veli of tax-paying land ;

(b) He must live in a house built on his own site ;

(c) His age must be below 70 and above 35 ;

(d) He must know the Mantrabrahmana, i.e., he must know it by
teaching others ;

(e) Even if one owns only one-eighth veli of land, he should have
his name written on the pot-ticket to be put into the pot, in case
he has learnt one Veda and one of the four bhasyas by explaining it
to others.

Among those possessing the foregoing qualifications :

(f) Only such as are well conversant with business and are virtuous
shall be taken and,

(g) One who possesses honest earnings, whose mind is pure and who
has not been on any of the committees for the last three years shall
also be chosen.

Disqualifications

(a) One who has been on any of the committees but has not submitted
his accounts, and all his relations, specified below, shall not have
their names written on the pot-tickets and put into the pot ;

(b) The sons of the younger and elder sisters of his mother,

(c) The sons of his paternal aunt and maternal uncle,

(d) The uterine brother of his mother,

(e) The uterine brother of his father,

(f) His uterine brother,

(g) His father-in-law,

(h) The uterine brother of his wife,

(i) The husband of his uterine sister,

(j) The sons of his uterine sister,

(k) The son-in-law who has married his daughter,

(l) His father,

(m) His son ;

(n) One against whom incest (agamyagamana) or the first four of the
five great sins are recorded,

(o) All his relations above specified shall not have their names
written on the pot-tickets and put into the pot ;

(p) One who is foolhardy ;

(q) One who has stolen the property of another ;

(r) One who has taken forbidden dishes (?) of any kind and who has
become pure by performing expiation ;

(s) One who has committed sins and has become pure by performing
expiatory ceremonies ;

(t) One who is guilty of incest and has become pure by performing
expiatory ceremonies.

(u) All these thus specified shall not to the end of their lives
have their names written on the pot-ticket to be put into the pot
for any of the committees.

Mode of Election

Excluding all these, thus specified, names shall be written for pot-
tickets in the thirty wards and each of the wards in these twelve
streets of Uttaramerur shall prepare a separate covering ticket for
each of the thirty wards bundled separately. These packets shall be
put into a pot. When the pot-tickets have to be drawn, a full
meeting of the Great Assembly, including the young and old members,
shall be convened. All the temple priests (Numbimar) who happen to
be in the village on that day, shall, without any exception
whatever, be caused to be seated in the inner hall, where the great
assembly meets.

In the midst of the temple priests one of them, who happens to be
the eldest, shall stand up and lift that pot looking upwards so as
to be seen by all people. One ward, i.e., the packet representing
it, shall be taken out by any young boy standing close, who does not
know what is inside, and shall be transferred to another empty pot
and made over to the arbitrator (madhyastha). While taking charge of
the ticket thus given to him, the arbitrator shall receive it on the
palm of his hand with the five fingers open. He shall read out the
name in the ticket thus received. The ticket read by him shall also
be read out by all the priests present in the inner hall. The name
thus read out shall be put down (and accepted). Similarly one man
shall be chosen for each of the thirty wards.

Constitution of the Committee

Of the thirty men thus chosen, those who had previously been on the
Garden committee and on the Tank committee, those who are advanced
in learning, and those who are advanced in age shall be chosen for
the Annual Committee. Of the rest, twelve shall be taken for the
Garden committee and the remaining six shall form the Tank
committee. These last two committees shall be chosen by showing the
Karai.

Duration of the Committees

The great men of these three committees thus chosen for them shall
hold office for full three hundred and sixty days and then retire.

Removal of Persons Found Guilty

When one who is on the committee is found guilty of any offence, he
shall be removed at once : for appointing the committees after these
have retired, the members of the Committee “for Supervision of
Justice” in the twelve streets of Uttaramerur shall convene an
assembly kuri with the help of the Arbitrator. The com