The Chola administration had a central government led by the king and council of ministers. Officers were paid with land assignments. The central government oversaw external defense, internal peace, cultural progress, and general prosperity. Power was decentralized with mandalams or provinces ruled by royal families. Local villages had self-governance through three types of assemblies that discussed taxes, disputes, and resource allocation. Villages donated land and taxes to prominent temples, which served as social, educational, and medical centers. The Chola kingdom derived revenue from land and trade taxes, which supported public works, officials, and the army. Chola art and architecture flourished during this period, exemplified by their iconic temples and statues like Nataraja

1. Cholas Administration

2. Central Government
• The king looked all the authorities in the Kingdom. And also has a council of
ministers to advise him
• The officers were paid by giving assignments in revenue bearing lands
• The central government looked after :-
1. External defense
2. Internal peace and order
3. Promotion of general prosperity
4. Cultural progress

3. Provincial Government
Cholas empire
Mandalams or Provinces
Valanadu Nadu
They were
ruled by the
royal families
and princes
and they were
made the
governors of
provines.

4. Local Self-Government
• In villages the local self government was carried out by villagers
• They had Three types of village assemblies :-
1. The ur
2. The Sabha
3. The nagaram

5. • The information about the ur and the sabha is from the walls of village temples
• The ur was the common assembly of the villages in which the land was held by all classes of people
• The Sabha was only for the brahmins assembly of villages and all the land belonged to the bhramins .
• The nagaram belonged to the localities who were traders and merchants who were in a dominant
position
• Villagers who owned the land were chosen by a vote to the council
• The council discussed all affairs concerning the village , Such as collection of taxes, settlements of
disputes and allocations of water

6. • The temple was the center of social activity
• The lands donated to the temple were known as devadaya and devadana
• In some villages instead of land they paid land revenue for the gold and for the
treasury of the temple
• The temples were the biggest employment centers
• The temples used to take care of food, clothing, shelter, education and establishing
hospital
• The temple was the center of education and the priest were the teachers
• They learnt in two languages i) Sanskrit ii) Tamil
• The religious teaching was in Sanskrit since the Vedas had to be studied
• Tamil was the local language in the kingdom
•

7. The Revenue
• The revenue of the chola kingdom was from tax on land and tax on
trade
• Part of it was for the king the rest was used for public works such
as roads tanks , army, salary of officials and etc
• The tax was collected by village council

8. Chola Art
• The rulers loved art and architecture
• They built canals ,roads , temples, cites , palace and etc
• They were built in darvidian style
• The art of making and metal images had made a progress in the under the chola rulers
• They exceled in making god and goddess images. Example: Nataraja
• The image Nataraja had been described as “ cultural epitome” of the chola period