ADMINISTRATION OF PALLAVAS

A well Organised administration had existed in the Pallava Kingdom. We get a lot of information from the literature and inscriptions to know various aspect of the Pallava administration. The Pallava Kings had introduced several administrative institution in the Tamil Country. Mostly, they had adopted the Mauryan system of administration and modified according to their needs. It can be said that generally their was peace and order in the Pallava Kingdom due to their efficient administrative system.



The Pallava had a vast empire. It has extended  upto Nellore district in the North and up to the river South Pennar in the south. On the west, it had extended up to the western ghats and on the east up to Bay of Bengal. It was very difficult to have administrative control over such a large empire. Therefore, the Pallava had divided the empire into several administrative unit. They were called the Mandalam, Kottam, Nadu and Ur. These administrative divisions may be compared with modern administrative unit namely Province, District, Taluk or Village.

Mandalam:

The biggest unit of the pallava empire was Mandalam or Rashtra. It had remained almost an autonomous unit.. The pallava king had appoint a prince of Yuvaraja as the governor of the Mandalam.These was done to have direct central control over the Mandalam.

Kottam:

Each Mandalam was divided into several Kottam. the number of Kottam varied according to the size of the Mandalam. For example, the Thondai Mandalam was divided into 24 Kottams. Officials were appointed by the king to administer each Kottam.

Nadu:

The next administrative units was called Nadu. It was bigger than Ur or village. There was several villages in each Nadu. A council called Nattar was incharge of administration of Nadu.

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Ur:

The Ur or village was the smallest unit of administrative unit in the Pallava Kingdom. It was under the control of the village Sabha (village committees). The village Sabha remained almost autonomous in looking after the day to day administration of the village.

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The Pallava had followed the system of Monarchy. The king was the head of the kingdom. Hereditary succession to the throne had been in practice. Normally, the eldest son would be the next ruler. The Pallava kings had considered themselves as the representative of God. There was an efficient council of minister in the Pallava kingdom. The ministers were known as Amatyas. The ministers carried out the order of the king. They also rendered their co-operation and service to the king in all matters of administration. Besides the council of minister, there were many officials to look after each department of the Pallava administration.

There were three types of courts in the Pallava kigndom. The highest judicial organization was called Dharmasena. The king acted as its head. The courts in the town were known as Adikarnas. The court in village were called Karnas. Punishment were not cruel. Fines ere also imposed along with punishment.

The Pallava possessed a strong and big army. There were four divisions in the army. They were infantry, elephants, cavalry and chariots. The cavalry played a vital role in the wars. The Pallava also had a navy.

The Pallava should be specially remembered for their contribution to the cultural, literal, art and archeological history of South India. There was an overall development during the Pallava period in literature, music, paintings, religion and other work of life.