UTTARAMERUR
INSCRIPTIONS - ART AND CULTURE
News:
What the Uttaramerur
inscription, recently referred to by PM Modi, says
What's
in the news?
●
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14
referred to the Uttaramerur inscription in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, while
discussing India’s democratic history.
Key
takeaways:
●
Modi said that “India is the world’s
oldest democracy, it is the mother of democracy. There are numerous historical
references to this. An important reference is Tamil Nadu.”
Uttaramerur
Inscriptions:
●
The inscription found is like a local constitution for the gram sabha.
●
It tells how the assembly should be run,
what should be the qualification of members, what should be the process to
elect the members, and how a member would be disqualified.
Reign
of Parantaka I:
●
While Uttaramerur has multiple
inscriptions spanning centuries, the most famous one – being referred to by
Modi – is from the reign of Parantaka I (907-953 AD).
●
These provide a detailed description about
the village’s self-governance and have been cited by historians and political
leaders alike as evidence of India’s history of democratic functioning.
●
The famous inscription from Parantaka I’s
reign is found on the walls of the Vaikunda Perumal Temple.
Features
of the Inscriptions:
●
The inscription gives details of the functioning of the local sabha, i.e. the
village assembly.
●
The Uttaramerur inscription details how
members were selected, the required qualifications, their roles and responsibilities,
and even the circumstances in which they could be removed.
Appointing
Representatives to the Sabha:
●
Describing how the sabha shall be
constituted, the inscription says, “There will be 30 wards. Everyone living in these 30 wards would assemble and
select one representative for the village assembly.”
Qualifications
of the Representatives:
●
Ownership of a certain amount of land. (An
exception can be made on land ownership if the person has learnt at least “one
Veda and four Bhashyas”)
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Having a house.
●
Being between the age of 35 and 70.
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Knowing mantras and Brahmanas (from the
Vedic corpus).
●
One must also be “well-versed in business”
and “virtuous”.
Procedures
for Disqualifications:
●
The inscription then lists a number of
factors which disqualify someone and their family (all the relations are
systematically listed) from consideration. These include
○
Not having submitted accounts.
○
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.
○
Eating ‘forbidden’ dishes.
Lot
Method:
●
All those eligible and willing would write
their names on palm leaf tickets following which, the representative would be
chosen on the basis of an elaborate draw of lots, conducted by priests in the
inner hall of the building where the assembly meets.
Detailing
Responsibilities:
●
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)
○
The five-fold committee (its role is
unclear in the inscription).
Working
of the Committee:
●
These committee assignments would last for 360 days after which the
members would have to retire.
●
Anyone in the committee who was implicated
in any wrong doing, such as forgery or having ridden a donkey (i.e. being punished
for a crime), was removed instantly.
●
The inscription emphasizes upon the keeping of accounts – any discrepancy can
also disqualify members of the sabha.
Go
back to basics:
●
Uttaramerur lies in present-day Kanchipuram district, approximately 90 km southeast of Chennai. Today, it
is a small town and had a population of roughly 25,000 in the census of 2011.
It is known for its historic temples built during Pallava and Chola rule.