An 1100 years-old Constitution
Great piece of reporting from The Hindu on an extraordinary archeological find from Tamil Nadu about politics and governance in ancient India.
*** Excerpts ***
It may be hard to believe that nearly 1,100 years ago, a village had a perfect electoral system and a written Constitution prescribing the mode of elections. It was inscribed on the walls of the village assembly (grama sabha mandapa)…“This inscription, dated around 920 A.D. in the reign of Parantaka Chola, is an outstanding document in the history of India,” says Dr. R. Nagaswamy, former Director, Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology, referring to Uthiramerur in Chingleput district.
Dr. Nagaswamy says in his book, “Uthiramerur, the Historic Village in Tamil Nadu”:
It [the inscription] gives astonishing details about the constitution of wards, the qualification of candidates standing for elections, the disqualification norms, the mode of election, the constitution of committees with elected members, the functions of [those] committees, the power to remove the wrong-doer, etc…
The villagers even had the right to recall the elected representatives if they failed in their duty!*
Uthiramerur has a 1,250-year history. It is situated in Kanchipuram district, about 90 km from Chennai. The Pallava king Nandivarman II established it around 750 A.D.
R. Vasanthakalyani, Chief Epigraphist-cum-Instructor (Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology) said:
“About 1,100 years ago, during the period of Paranataka Chola, Uthiramerur had an elected village panchayat system, which was a step ahead of the modern day democratic system…”
The Tamil inscriptions elaborate on the election procedure followed several centuries ago.
There were committees for the maintenance of irrigation tanks, roads, to provide relief during drought, testing of gold and so on.
Dr. Nagaswamy says: “The village assembly of Uttaramerur drafted the Constitution for the elections. The salient features were as follows: the village was divided into 30 wards, one representative elected for each. Specific qualifications were prescribed for those who wanted to contest. The essential criteria were age limit, possession of immovable property and minimum educational qualification. Those who wanted to be elected should be above 35 years of age and below 70…”
Read the full story here. As Capt. Pullat remarked on the FTI discussion board: “Beats Magna Carta, isn’t it?”!
Related Posts:
“Corruption” – as mentioned in the Vedas
* “Un-electing” our leaders – Chhattisgarh shows the way
P.S. Have other readers (also) detected a subtle change in stance in The Hindu’s style of reporting? OR am I reading too much into LK Advani’s interview and recent Op-Eds? I should check out what the folks over at The Chindu think!
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