Question

Role of pallavas in the history of the development of art and administration in south india.

Answer 1

The achievements of the Pallavas in Administration and Art are as follows:

The Pallavas was the first well-known dynasty which came into power in the South after the fall of the Andharas. For about two hundred years from 550 to 750 A.D., the Pallavas were the dominant power in the South.

Their rule extended over a vast region including the modem territories of the Madras, Arcot, Trichnopoly and Tanjore but the whole of the South was under their influence


The Aryanization of South India was completed during the period of the Pallavas. Their grants show that the Aryan structure of society had gained firm hold on the south by the sixth century. Grants to Brahmins are specifically mentioned which show that the north Indian Dharma Sastras had acquired authority in the Pallava Kingdom.

Kingship was attributed to divine origin. The kings claimed their descent from the god Brahma. It has here-dietary. Yet, on one occasion a king was elected. Most of the kings were accomplished scholars. Mahendravaram I wrote the famous burlesque, Masttavilasa Prahasana. Many of the Vaishnava Alvars and Saiva Nayanars flourished during their rule.

The kings adopted high-sounding titles like Moharajahiraja, Dharma-maharajadhiraja (great king of kings ruling in accordance with the dharma), Agnistoma-vajapeya, Asvamedha yaji (he who has performed the agnishtoma-vajapeya and asvamedha sacrifices). They were assisted by ministers. History shows that the ministerial council played a great part in the state policy in the later period.


A hierarchy of officials in provincial administration: the governor of a province was assisted by district officers, who in turn worked in collaboration with autonomous local bodies. In local administration the meetings of assemblies were frequent; and the assemblies were of many varieties and of many levels often special meetings were held. As the village level the assemble was the sabha which looked after almost all the matters of the village, along with endowments, irrigation, crime, maintaining census and other necessary records.

Courts at village level dealt with minor criminal cases. The judicial courts of the town and districts were presided over by government officials, climaxing with the king as the supreme arbiter of justice. The sabha worked in close association with the or an informal gathering of the entire village. Above this unit was a district council, which worked in co­ordination with the nadu or district administration. Finally, the headman of eth village was the link between the village assembly and the official administration.

Theoretically the king owned the land. The status of a village depended on the prevalent land tenure. The first variety was the village with inter-caste population where in the people paid taxes to the king. The second was the Brahmadeya village in which the entire land was donated to a single Brahmin or a group of Brahmins.

A variation of this village was the Agrahara grant which was an entire village settlement of Brahmins. Both these forms were exempt from royal taxes. In the Devadana village the revenue was donated to a temple, and the temple authorities in turn provided employment for the villagers in the temple whenever possible. In the Pallava period the first two categories of villages were in vogue.

Apart from these major points relating to land there was a special category of land, the sripatti or tank land. The revenue from such a land was set apart for the maintenance of the village tank. The tank itself was built by the efforts of the entire village. All shared the water stored in the tank. Very many inscriptions of the Pallavas refer to the upkeep of tanks.

There are two points about land taxes. The land revenue varied from one-sixth to one-tenth of the produce of land. This was paid to the state. The local taxes that were collected in a village were spent for the needs of the village. As land revenue was necessarily small, the state revenue was supplemented by additional taxes on cattle, marriage-parties, potters, makers of clarified butter, textile manufacturers, washer-man and weavers. The major source of revenue was from land, since the revenue from mercantile activity was not fully exploited.

Regarding expenditure, most of the revenue wants for the maintenance of army. The king preferred a standing army instead of feudal levies, the army primarily consisting of foot soldiers and cavalry along with a sprinkling of elephants. Indeed the Pallavas developed a navy although the mercantile activity was not great.

Two dockyards were built at Mahablipuram and Nagapatnam. This pioneering effort of the Pallavas reached its climax during the days of Cholas. The navy served a double purpose. It was meant for defence and also assisted the maritime trade with south-east Asia, particularly with the three kingdoms of Kambuja (Cambodia), Champa (Annam) and Shrivijaya (Malayan peninsula and Sumatra).