{"id":81075,"date":"2023-01-30T00:36:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T04:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=81075"},"modified":"2023-01-30T23:25:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T03:25:11","slug":"indian-prime-minister-narendra-modi-cites-the-chola-era-stone-inscriptions-of-uthiramerur-in-tamil-nadu-as-proof-of-democracy-being-prevalent-in-india-durinf-ancient-times-before-the-advent-of-western","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=81075","title":{"rendered":"Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Cites the Chola-era Stone Inscriptions of Uthiramerur in Tamil Nadu as Proof of Democracy Being Prevalent in India Durinf Ancient times before the Advent of Western Colonialism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Express News Service<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Uthiramerur, a quaint village about 85 km from Chennai, suddenly found itself embedded into the foundation of democracy on Thursday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the grassroots-level governance that was practiced there during the Chola period in the 10th century.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Uthiramerur_temple.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-81077\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Uthiramerur_temple.jpg 480w, https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Uthiramerur_temple-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Official_portrait_of_Narendra_Modi_2022_cropped.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"312\" height=\"393\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-81079\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Official_portrait_of_Narendra_Modi_2022_cropped.jpg 312w, https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Official_portrait_of_Narendra_Modi_2022_cropped-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 312px) 100vw, 312px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Soon after laying the foundation stone for the new Parliament building in New Delhi, Modi sprang a surprise by making a reference to the Uthiramerur model of democracy, saying how that unique principle had been a characteristic feature of governance in India even during ancient times.<\/p>\n<p>He said the stone inscriptions clearly described how every village was categorised as kudumbu, which we call a ward in modern day parlance. \u201cOne representative from each of these kudumbus was sent to the general assembly, as it is today. The mahasabha, which used to be held thousands of years ago, is still there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Finding a parallel between the present-day electoral requirement of candidates to declare their wealth and assets with that of the Chola-era practice, Modi said, \u201cThere was also a provision to disqualify the people\u2019s representatives from contesting elections if any candidate\/representative failed to declare details of his property and money they won. He and his close relatives could not contest the elections,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister added that every minute aspects of a democratic form of governance was thought of and practised even in those ages. \u201cThis history of our democracy is seen in every corner of the country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Kudavolai system to elect representatives\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The inscriptions at Uthiramerur has interesting details of the resolutions of the general assembly and the kudavolai system (pot ticket election procedure), which was followed to elect representatives to the village assembly or sabha.<\/p>\n<p>The inscriptions on the temple walls, too, speak about the prevalence of village assemblies in other parts of State, including at Thiruninravur (Tiruvallur district), Manimangalam and Dadasamudram (Kancheepuram district), Sithamalli and Thalaignayiru (Thanjavur district), and Jambai (Villupuram district).<\/p>\n<p>Elected members, if proven guilty of misconduct, were disqualified from contesting future elections: Acts of misconduct included accepting bribe, misappropriating else\u2019s property and the likes. Earlier, too, the Prime Minister had quoted verses from Thirukkural, poet Subramaniya Bharathi and ancient Tamil literature.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, while inaugurating a Defence Expo at Thiruvidanthai near Chennai, Modi quoted the Tamil saint-poet Tiruvalluvar\u2019s couplet. Recently, Modi quoted Thirukkural again to reiterate that armed forces have always followed the traditions of valour and honour. On October 31, he had quoted Subramania Bharathi\u2019s verses during National Unity Day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Palaniswami congratulates Modi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CM Edappadi K Palaniswami congratulated PM Modi for laying the foundation stone for new Parliament building, in New Delhi. \u201cI am confident this will be a landmark structure. On behalf of the people of TN, I congratulate you for your personal touch in shaping the project,\u201d said the CM, who took part through video conference<\/p>\n<p><em>Courtesy:The New Indian Express<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"tweetbutton81075\" class=\"tw_button\" style=\"float:right;margin-left:10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdbsjeyaraj.com%2Fdbsj%2F%3Fp%3D81075&amp;text=Indian%20Prime%20Minister%20Narendra%20Modi%20Cites%20the%20Chola-era%20Stone%20Inscriptions%20of%20Uthiramerur%20in%20Tamil%20Nadu%20as...%20&amp;related=&amp;lang=en&amp;count=horizontal\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  style=\"width:55px;height:22px;background:transparent url('https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-tweet-button\/tweetn.png') no-repeat  0 0;text-align:left;text-indent:-9999px;display:block;\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Express News Service Uthiramerur, a quaint village about 85 km from Chennai, suddenly found itself embedded into the foundation of democracy on Thursday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the grassroots-level governance that was practiced there during the Chola period in the 10th century. Soon after laying the foundation stone for the new &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=81075\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Cites the Chola-era Stone Inscriptions of Uthiramerur in Tamil Nadu as Proof of Democracy Being Prevalent in India Durinf Ancient times before the Advent of Western Colonialism&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81075"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81080,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81075\/revisions\/81080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}