Elaborate self-governing systems existed in north T.N. villages before arrival of British: Study

The Murugan Temple in Kundrathur. File
| Photo Credit: M. Srinath

A recent study by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), a not-for-profit research organisation, on two villages of north Tamil Nadu — Kundrathur and Ullavur — in the neighbourhood of Chennai, highlights how elaborate self-governing administrative systems existed at the village level for many years before the arrival of the British.

Jatinder K. Bajaj, Director, CPS, said the main objective of the study was to learn how the polity of India functioned before the British. This study was based on a survey conducted by Thomas Barnard, a British military officer, in about 2,000 locations in the erstwhile Chengalpattu Jagir between 1767 and 1774. The British had obtained this area from the Nawab of Arcot in 1762.

He said the summary record of the Barnard survey was available in English at the Tamil Nadu State Archives. In these records, the British had summarised information about the functioning of the villages in the Jagir from Tamil inscriptions on palm leaves kept by traditional account keepers called ‘Kanakkupillais.’

“For the study of Kundrathur and Ullavur, the CPS had consulted both the archival summary records and the Tamil palm leaves. In addition, we have looked at several inscriptions from Kundrathur, Ullavur and the Kasakudi copperplate of the Pallava period,” he said.

‘Financially, culturally, politically self-contained’

A major outcome of the study, which has been published as two separate books recently by the CPS, in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (INGCA), is that the Indian villages in the pre-British era were self-governing units with well-defined boundaries, which were considered sacrosanct.

Mr. Bajaj said the villages were financially, culturally, and politically self-contained. Every village had a long history of its own. As many as 55 inscriptions from the Chola period to the Mughals have been recorded from Kundrathur, which throws light on the history of the village over several centuries.

The study highlighted that the annual production of foodgrains in the whole of the Chengalpattu Jagir amounted to as much as one tonne per capita, which is five times the average of India today. The study also describes in detail how abundant agricultural produce was distributed among various institutions and functionaries of the village. Considerable shares from the produce were allocated for the maintenance of water bodies that abound in this region and for the sustenance of high scholars, teachers, musicians, and dancers.

The study urged the Union and State governments to compile inscriptions, copper plates, palm-leaf accounts, and archival documents of different periods in various villages across the country to decolonise Indian polity and revive self-governing administrative practices prevalent before the arrival of the British. It also suggested reviving water bodies, flower gardens, and impressive temples in Kundrathur and Ullavur, which would restore the 18th century grandeur of these villages and make them centres of heritage tourism.