. . Chola Adminstration King Historians have debated the nature of the Chola state. Clearly, it was presided over by a hereditary monarchy.
The king is presented in glowing terms in the literature and inscriptions of the period. Venerated on par with god. The kings were invariably addressed as peruman or perumagan (big man), ulagudaiyaperumal (the lord of the world) and ulagudaiyanayanar (the lord of the world). Later, they adopted the titles such as Chakkaravarti (emperor) and Tiribhuvana Chakkaravarti (emperor of three worlds).
At the time of coronation, it was a practice to add the suffix deva to the name of the crowned kings. The kings drew legitimacy by claiming that they were a comrade of god (thambiran thozhar). Chola rulers appointed Brahmins as spiritual preceptors or rajagurus (the kingdom’s guide). Rajaraja I and Rajendra I mention the names of rajagurus and Sarva-sivas in their inscriptions.
Patronising Brahmins was seen to enhance their prestige and legitimacy. Chola kings therefore granted huge estates of land to Brahmins as brahmadeyams and chturvedimangalams (pronounced chatur- vedi-mangalam). Provinces As mentioned earlier, the territories of the Chola state had been expanding steadily even from the time of Vijayalaya. At the time of conquest, these areas were under the control of minor chiefs described by historians as “feudatories”.
Rajaraja I integrated these territories and appointed “viceroys” in these regions: Chola-Pandya in Pandinadu, Chola- Lankeswara in Sri Lanka, which was renamed as Mummudi-cholamandalam, and Chola-Ganga in the Gangavadi region of southern Karnataka. In other less prominent regions, the territories of chiefs such as the Irukkuvels, Ilangovels or Mazhavas or Banas were made part of the Chola state and their chiefs were inducted into the state system as its functionaries. XI History - Lesson - - Later Cholas and Pandyas Nattar Nadu was a grouping of several urs, excluding brahmadeyas formed around irrigation sources such as canals and tanks. Nattar (literally those belonging to the nadu) were the assembly of landholders of vellanvagai villages (urs) in nadu.
Nattar functioned as pillars of the state structure under the Cholas. They discharged many of the administrative, fiscal and judicial responsibilities of the state. They held hereditary land rights and were responsible for remitting the tax from the respective nadu to the state. Landholders of the nadu held the honorific titles such as asudaiyan (possessor of land), araiyan (leader) and kilavan (headman).
There were functionaries such as the naattukanakku and nattuviyavan, recording the proceedings of the Nattar.