Throwing light on the elections held in ancient times, an epigraph of yore prescribes a rule that the contestant should have earned his wealth from fair means!
At a time when different political parties are gearing up to field their candidates in the forthcoming general elections, it is interesting to learn how elections were conducted in the ancient Tamil society when there were no printed ballot papers and EVMs.
The chapter Andraya Thamizhnaattu Therthal (Elections in the then Tamil Nadu) from the book Thamizhaga Tholliyal Aayvugal throws light on how elections for the members of Gram Sabha (Village assembly) were held centuries ago. The book was authored by veteran historian the late Pulavar Se Rasu, who was also the former head of the Department of Archaeology and Epigraphy, at Tamil University, Thanjavur.
“Elections used to be conducted in various parts of the ancient Tamil land even before 1000 years. However, unlike today, there were no political parties, no party symbols, no election campaign, and no poll expenses” says Rasu, an author of over 100 books on history and epigraphy.
The historian notes that certain stone inscriptions found in the districts of Kancheepuram, Vellore, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thiruvallur and Ariyalur speak of such elections held in the bygone era.
Citing from an epigraph found at Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram district, Rasu says:
“In ancient times, elections were conducted to select members for the kudumbus (wards) and rules were laid down for the candidates to contest in the polls. With Uthiramerur having as many as thirty wards, the election rules mentioned in the epigraph say that a contestant, who wants to get elected as the administrative member of the village assembly, should be the native of the ward he represents. Of the following criteria, the contestant should fulfill at least one as per the rules:
1) He should possess his own house
2) He should own a taxable Kaalveali Nilam (A quarter of land measuring 6.74 acres).
3) He should be literate
4) He should be a man of good morals
5) His wealth should be from fair means
6) He should have the competence to solve issues
7) He should not have been a member of the vaariyam (Village assembly) in the last three years”
Rasu says that each member of the particular ward would write the name of a contestant with his consent on a piece of palm leaf and cast it in a pot, which is allotted to that particular ward. In such a way, all the thirty pots of the thirty respective wards would contain the names of the contestants written on pieces of palm leaf. The pots would then be sealed and brought to a public place. There, a little boy would be asked to pick one palm leaf each from the thirty pots and drop them in another pot. Then the persons of the names written on those thirty frond ballots would become the administrative members of their respective wards. This kind of electing representatives in ancient Tamil land was called Kudavolai Murai (Vote by ballot, as recorded on the palm leaf and cast into a pot)
Standing testimony to the existence of the kudavolai method of electing representatives, the 77th song in Agananuru, a Sangam period classical literary work, employs the act of picking frond ballots from the pots as a simile to describe a dreadful scene in the battlefield. Translated by Vaidehi Herbert, the lines in the song from Agananuru read thus:
…Like the public officials who break
the seals of the rope-tied ballot pots
and remove frond ballots, vultures with
red ears remove the intestines of the
fierce-eyed warriors…
The chapter Andraya Thamizhnaattu Therthal (Elections in the then Tamil Nadu) from the book Thamizhaga Tholliyal Aayvugal throws light on how elections for the members of Gram Sabha (Village assembly) were held centuries ago. The book was authored by veteran historian the late Pulavar Se Rasu, who was also the former head of the Department of Archaeology and Epigraphy, at Tamil University, Thanjavur.
“Elections used to be conducted in various parts of the ancient Tamil land even before 1000 years. However, unlike today, there were no political parties, no party symbols, no election campaign, and no poll expenses” says Rasu, an author of over 100 books on history and epigraphy.
The historian notes that certain stone inscriptions found in the districts of Kancheepuram, Vellore, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thiruvallur and Ariyalur speak of such elections held in the bygone era.
Citing from an epigraph found at Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram district, Rasu says:
“In ancient times, elections were conducted to select members for the kudumbus (wards) and rules were laid down for the candidates to contest in the polls. With Uthiramerur having as many as thirty wards, the election rules mentioned in the epigraph say that a contestant, who wants to get elected as the administrative member of the village assembly, should be the native of the ward he represents. Of the following criteria, the contestant should fulfill at least one as per the rules:
1) He should possess his own house
2) He should own a taxable Kaalveali Nilam (A quarter of land measuring 6.74 acres).
3) He should be literate
4) He should be a man of good morals
5) His wealth should be from fair means
6) He should have the competence to solve issues
7) He should not have been a member of the vaariyam (Village assembly) in the last three years”
Rasu says that each member of the particular ward would write the name of a contestant with his consent on a piece of palm leaf and cast it in a pot, which is allotted to that particular ward. In such a way, all the thirty pots of the thirty respective wards would contain the names of the contestants written on pieces of palm leaf. The pots would then be sealed and brought to a public place. There, a little boy would be asked to pick one palm leaf each from the thirty pots and drop them in another pot. Then the persons of the names written on those thirty frond ballots would become the administrative members of their respective wards. This kind of electing representatives in ancient Tamil land was called Kudavolai Murai (Vote by ballot, as recorded on the palm leaf and cast into a pot)
Standing testimony to the existence of the kudavolai method of electing representatives, the 77th song in Agananuru, a Sangam period classical literary work, employs the act of picking frond ballots from the pots as a simile to describe a dreadful scene in the battlefield. Translated by Vaidehi Herbert, the lines in the song from Agananuru read thus:
…Like the public officials who break
the seals of the rope-tied ballot pots
and remove frond ballots, vultures with
red ears remove the intestines of the
fierce-eyed warriors…