LONG BEFORE MAGNA CARTA

We have heard of the Magna Carta which is kept in the Salisbury Cathedral,
and recognise it as the first written “Constitution.”

Now read this.

While performing the Bhoomi Puja for our new Parliament Building last year,
our PM mentioned about _Uthiramerur.

Quite a few of my friends called and asked me what was so important about
Uthiramerurthat it found a mention in the PM's speech?

Here are details .

_*Uthiramerur (Tamil Nadu) model of democracy*_.

Uthiramerur is situated in Kancheepuram district, about 90 km from Chennai,

which has a 1,250-year history.

There are three important temples. The three temples have a large number of
inscriptions, notably those from the reigns of Raja Raja Chola (985-1014 A.D.),
his son Rajendra Chola, and the Vijayanagar emperor Krishnadeva Raya.

During the period of Parantaka Chola [907-955 A.D.] The village administration
was honed into a perfect system through elections. In fact, inscriptions on
temple walls in several parts of Tamil Nadu refer to village assemblies. “But it is
at Uthirameruron the walls of the village assembly (mandapa) itself that we
have the earliest inscriptions with complete information about how the elected
village assembly functioned,” says R. Sivanandam, epigraphist at the Tamil
Nadu Department of Archaeology.

It testifies to the historical fact that nearly 1,100 years ago, a village had an
elaborate and highly refined electoral system and even a written constitution
prescribing the mode if elections. The details of this system of elective village
democracy are inscribed on the walls of the village assembly (grama sabha
mandapa), a rectangular structure made of granite slabs “It is an outstanding
document in the history of India.
It is a veritable written constitution of the village assembly that functioned
1,000 years ago,” says Dr. Nagaswamy famous archaeologist.

The inscription, gives astonishing details about the constitution of wards, the
qualification of candidates standing for elections, the disqualification norms,
the mode of election, the constitution of committees with elected members,
the functions of those committees, the power to remove the wrongdoer, etc…”.
The villagers even had the right to recall the elected representatives if they
failed in their duty.

The salient features are as under:

The village was divided into 30 wards, with one representative elected for each.
Those who wanted to contest should be above 35 years of age and below 70.
Only those who owned land that attracted tax could contest elections.

Such owners should possess a house built on a legally owned site (not on
public poramboke).

A person serving in any of the committees could not contest again for the next
three terms, each term lasting a year.

Elected members who accepted bribes, misappropriated others' property,

committed incest, or acted against the public interest suffered disqualification.
The entire village, including infants, had to be present at the village assembly
mandapa when elections were held.

Only the sick and those who had gone on a pilgrimage were exempt.

I first came to know about these neither from our history books nor from my
teachers in school and college but, from a book of Paramacharya that contains
his teachings.

In fact, Late Sri. T. N. Sheshan, former election commissioner was a bit dejected
when he was appointed as Chief Election Commissioner and went and met
Paramacharya.

Paramacharya, who was 97, when a visibly disappointed Seshan came to meet
Him, immediately sensed the cause of his disappointment and counselled him
to treat the transfer as an opportunity granted by God to serve the Indian
public.
He had suggested that Seshan visit the Uthiramerur temple and read through
the details of electoral regulations prevalent in India about 1000 years ago,
including qualifications of candidates that can contest elections.

In the words of Shri Seshan, "The credit for Electoral reforms must go to Kanchi
Mahaswami, but for whom this would not have been possible.

At 97, He had such clarity and described minute details of the electoral rules
embossed on the northern walls of the Uthiramerur temple.

And mentioned to me that even implementing a tenth of these reforms, would

be a great service to India”. The rest is history.

In the words of columnist TJS George, “Seshan showed what one man could do
to ensure that democracy did not become a hydra-headed monster. In time
Seshan retired. And the monster was set free.”

I doubt how many of the politicians in TN know of this.

It was wonderful that our PM had shared this on national stage so that
everyone across the country would get the opportunity to know the richness of
our culture.

The Vishnu temple in Uthiramerur is very unique since the same was built by
Viswakarma and it's the first Ashtanga Vimana to be constructed.

The vima gvna in Ashtalakshmi temple in Besant nagar, Chennai was designed
and built by copying this vimana only.

Certainly a place to visit to know and understand our richness.