Democracy of a high standard - ancient India's example

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HinduThought, "Ashok Chowgule" <ashokvc@c...>

wrote:

 

Democracy of a high standard - ancient example

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2003/10/10/stories/2003101001421200.htm

DR. R. NAGASWAMY

 

 

The inscriptions on the walls of the Sundaravarada temple in

Uttiramerur, near Kanchipuram, show how democracy was practised 1,000

years ago.

 

 

THE KUMBABHISHEKAM on June 8 last of the Sundaravarada temple of

Uttiramerur, Kanchipuram district, was the culmination of a great

renovation work. This temple was built around 750 A.D. during the

Pallava rule, but underwent a second great renovation in the hands of

Rajendra Chola in 1013 A.D., and again in the reign of the great

Vijayanagar Emperor, Krishnadevaraya in 1520 A.D.

 

The village is known for its historic inscription of a written

constitution that deals with elections to the village assembly,

qualifications required of candidates contesting in elections,

circumstances under which a candidate may be disqualified, mode of

election, tenure of the elected candidates and the right of the public

to recall the elected members when they failed to discharge their

duties properly and so on. It is interesting how in every aspect of

life the highest standard of democracy was enforced in Uttiramerur.

 

Fines for wrongdoers

 

A 10th Century record deals with how to administer fines imposed on

wrong doers in the village. Those who were fined for misdeeds are

classified into criminals ("dushtargal"), fined by the great village

assembly and the serving elected members of the village assembly who

were fined.

 

The great assembly met and decided that the fines imposed should be

settled by the administrators of the village, through the Village

Assembly, within the same financial year, failing which the Village

Assembly itself would get the matter settled. This suggests that as

the Village Assembly also had a judicial function, it could impose

further fines and get the same realised. Regarding the second

category

it was decided that the elected members of the subcommittees, their

servants, the village scribes and the village guards, who were

punished for default, the cases should be settled by the village

administrators (under the supervision of the Village Assembly),

failing

which the Village Assembly itself should collect the fine, within the

same year.

 

The village administrators would be individually fined one "kaanam"

(money) for their failure to discharge their duty. The record makes

it

clear that the elected members of the Village Assembly could not

escape

punishment by virtue of their elected memberships. The defaulting

administrators were also dealt with severely.

 

Testing gold quality

 

Another record dated 921 A.D. was a regulation passed by the Village

Assembly. As gold was in circulation for commercial transactions it

was found necessary that the gold offered should be tested for its

fineness to the satisfaction of the community.

 

A committee was elected by the villagers to test the gold by rubbing

it

against a touchstone. Four members were elected by the pot ticket

method by the merchant community of the village, two members by the

military garrison and two by the oil mongers.

 

Those who stood for this election had to be skilled in testing gold

and

for their upright conduct. They had to be neither too old nor too

young. They should be taxpayers. Non-tax paying men were considered

unsuitable for the work. All together 10 members were elected for a

stipulated period.

 

The Gold Testing Committee, called "Pon Vaariyam", was strictly

prohibited from using rough stones, which would lead to greater loss

of gold while rubbing. They were also expected to recover the gold

dust

from the touchstone, at the end of each day and deposit it with the

village assembly. Once in three months, they were obliged to go

before

the village assembly and swear that they had not committed any fraud

in

the testing. Also people were so proud of their oaths and sworn

statements that they would sacrifice their life rather than break

their

own sworn statements.

 

Appointment of Professors

 

Another interesting record deals with an establishment of a higher

institution of learning and the qualifications prescribed for the

professor, the method of appointment and the duration of his service.

As

this was related to a Vedic college, the qualifications required

mastery of the Vedas. For instance, the incumbent could not be a

native

of that village but one who came from other regions. It was believed

that the teacher from the same village might take things easy and not

do full justice to his profession.

 

The second clause states that the teacher should have mastered one

Veda

completely in addition to mastery of grammar, "Mimamsa", and the two

religious systems, "darsanas". Alternately he should have mastered one

of the Vedas, in addition to grammar with commentary ("Vyakarana"

with

"bhashya") and Logic with commentary and classical notes ("nyaaya"

with

"bashya" and "tika") and etymological science ("nirukta") with

commentary.

 

Those who are conversant with ancient Indian learning know that these

are very high standards compared to this age, where a professor of

Ancient History, for example, need not have even basic understanding

of

Sanskrit or epigraphy to interpret the original sources of ancient

Indian culture.

 

The Ancient Educationists on the other hand insisted on

multi-dimensional understanding of the relevant subjects as the best

system of education. The record states that the teacher is appointed

for

a period of only three years at the end of which one has to take an

examination for another term of appointment. The endowment with all

the

stipulations was created by a gentleman of the village in association

with the Members of the Village Assembly, which would monitor the

functioning. Here one finds that local democracy played a vibrant

role

in keeping the standard of education high.

 

Protection of village tanks

 

The maintenance of the village tank received top priority. The work

was

looked after by the Tank Supervising Committee whose members were

elected from among the non-serving members of the Village Assembly.

Their tenure was also limited to three years. In this way a great

number of people were involved in managing the affairs of the

village.

The duty of the Tank Supervisory Committee was maintenance of tanks,

irrigation, levying of tank taxes and utilising the funds so

collected

for the same purpose. The work of this committee was so inspiring

that

many people, including women, came forward and endowed money for tank

maintenance.

 

The committee also had to de-silt the village tanks once in three

months

and strengthen the tank bunds by widening and raising its height.

The

sluices and overflow channels were to be maintained properly.

Uttiramerur shows the best example by providing a large number of

records dealing with this type of secular transactions of the village

Assemblies of Ancient India.

 

There is an example of road maintenance. A road, continuously used by

the villagers and cattle, became unfit for use. The village assembly

acquired lands from owners who had cultivable lands adjacent to the

road. The long road was about 48 feet wide. The assembly purchased

land 14 feet wide from all the owners, who were willing to part with

the land for a common cause and the road was re- laid.

 

Efficient election system

 

It would be appropriate to close this account by referring to the

election system that was in vogue. The record is a clause-by-clause

document of high efficiency and those who drafted it could be

considered

constitutional experts.

 

The salient features were that a person should have a minimum

educational qualification, should be above 35 years of age and below

70, should own a minimum of landed property, should have a residence

built in his own land and finally, should be a tax payer. Only such

men, who felt it was their responsibility to contribute to the

governance, were allowed to contest. It was obligatory that a

legislator should understand at least what he is legislating, as

these

acts affect the life of the people. In disqualifying a candidate,

primary importance was given to elimination of corruption. Not only

corrupt persons but those who abetted corruption and the near

relatives, were debarred from contesting an election for seven

generations.

 

Those elected could be recalled any time if they were found not

discharging their duty properly. With all these rigid rules if one

got

elected he could not contest the next three consecutive elections. And

one could contest only for three terms throughout his lifetime and

should make way for other members and families to get elected.

Uttiramerur definitely shows the way in democratic participation

extended to a larger section of society, exerting at the same time

constant vigil and scrupulous enforcement of the Law, without favours

or

prejudices.

 

In place were several committees such as the Annual Administrative

Committee, Tank Committee, Gold Committee, Field Committee, Garden

Committee, etc. which were all democratically elected under the

overall

supervision of the Annual Committee.

 

Each serving member is debarred from standing for any other committee

within three terms. Many of the evils prevalent today were

anticipated

1,000 years ago and this made the Constitution framers, men of great

vision, who deserve to be at least remembered. Uttiramerur, in this

context, has a message to be acknowledged.

 

(The author was Director of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu).

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