Disputes about holdings, or about incidences of revenue, etc., were settled by the assembly, and if it was a question of graver matter in regard to these, assemblies from the neighbourhood were made to join together and make their award, which the controlling officer of the region accepted and issued as a general order.

Transfer of land from party to party had to be done with the final approval and sanction of the headquarters authority with the direct sanction of the monarch, where a complete register of holdings was maintained and that constituted in all probability the authoritative record of holdings of land. One such instance under Raja Raja III is that the lands had to be transferred from the royal register to the register of temple-lands (deva-dana).

One good instance of the division of responsibility between the officers of Government and the local bodies has recently been made accessible to us in an inscription of the time of Devaraya II. The inhabitants of Valudilam-battu in the Tanjore District had suffered successively from the irruptions of the Hoysalas, and consequently a considerable amount of confusion was introduced in the revenue administration of the division. The inhabitants were oppressed by the uncertainty of the demands, and therefore began to leave the locality in small bodies, so much so that at the time the cultivable lands were lying waste and uncultivated. In this condition the matter was brought to the notice of the king, who immediately ordered an inquiry as to the circumstances that brought about the state of things. It was found on enquiry that since the days of the Hoysala irruption, the local authority had become weak or non-existent; that the demands upon the lands became uncertain and there came to prevail some kind of local anarchy. The inhabitants found it intolerable to go on in the division in these special circumstances. An order was issued at once that the assemblies of the surrounding unions together with such of the inhabitants of the suffering unit itself as were present might assemble together, conduct an enquiry and make a register of revenue incidences as they prevailed in the days previous to the irruption of the Hoysalas. The inquiry was conducted and the document called for was set forth in full. This document was incorporated in a royal circular and issued to the locality calling upon the original inhabitants to return under the assurance that they could go on as before under the authority of the document thus issued. This record illustrates that the authorities of the Central Government did not directly interfere in these matters, and even in a serious case like this, they had to work through local agencies and see to it that there was nothing arbitrary in their proceedings.

In regard to the functions of the village assemblies which would come under the department of public works, it was the duty of the assembly to see that the tanks and the irrigation channels were kept in good condition, that the roads of which there are references to some as wide as 64 spans and 100 spans, were kept in repair. Large irrigation projects were not carried out by the village assemblies. Such projects were undertaken either by the Government itself in which case Government became proprietor and let out the land, or these were undertaken by wealthy and enterprising individuals. In such a case, they were given certain privileges by way of special allotments of revenue or by the assignment of a fraction thereof. In either case, the completed works were made over to the possession of assemblies; it was the charge of the assemblies themselves to see to their being in an efficient condition and to put them through repairs when called for. The assemblies also regulated the local taxes and dues, which seem in the first instance to have been levied by themselves under a recognised royal schedule. It was the duty of one of their committees that the villagers rendered free labour. They were bound to see that no undue advantage was taken of it. We have instances of vexatious taxes or dues being removed. One such act apparently gave the great Chola Kulottunga, the title "the

Chola that abolished the tolls." Tolls were specially set apart as royal revenue and is regarded even in the Kural as one of the legitimate sources of royal revenue. We do not know under what circumstances exactly Kulottunga abolished the tolls. We have instances on record of the great Vijayanagar ruler Krishna Devaraya abolishing marriage taxes, and taxes upon barbers so that the abolition of taxes which proved to be oppressive or irksome, certainly was not unknown under Hindu rulers.

The village assemblies had the responsibility of tracking crime. They had their own village officers whose special duty it was; when criminals were traced, they were brought before the assembly for punishment. The guilt was brought home to the culprit before the assembly, and the punishment was accorded according to law by the special body of judges, who had knowledge of it, or by royal officers when once the guilt was provedito the satisfaction of the assembly. These assemblies went about administering justice, generally tempered with mercy. We have numbers of instances of death brought on by neglect, or under circumstances of peculiar provocation. Allowances were made in extenuation of the crime of murder in these cases. In circumstances of peculiar enormity, or where desperate gangs of robbers sometimes defied the village authorities, Government assistance was invoked and was readily provided. We have one instance in point. A certain number of Brahmans and others set up as dacoits, and carried on their depredations in defiance of the village authorities. The village appealed to the local governor, who provided a section of the guards to arrest the criminals. They arrested the culprits once, who even went so far as to overpower the guards and escaped. A second successful arrest was made, and among those arrested happened to be a couple of Brahmans, who were ring-leaders. Then a question arose whether as Brahmans, they could be punished as robbers. A reference was made to headquarters and the ruling was obtained, that since they set up as robbers, they were guilty of an act unworthy of a Brahman and ceased to be such. They were liable to be punished according to the law like other robbers. The punishment was accordingly carried out.