Village Communal Organisations

BY K. R. R. SASTRY, M.A., B.L.; F.R.E.S.

"Local self-administration and the ubiquitous panchayat are among the East's rich and successful experiments in communal life and organisation, and the rehabilitation of this will be attended with much better results than the introduction of ready-made systems from abroad." An one-sided imitation has led to the problem of deruralisation which in its turn has produced a shocking percentage of infant mortality, the slum problem and the unhealthy atmosphere of urban life. Throughout South India to this day, we have many relics of the self-sufficing; guild activity of ancient times in the survival of important trade customs and the fairly complete working of the existing corporations functioning effectively in many rural localities.

A small questionnaire like this will be useful to local enquirers: -

1. Is there a village panchayat registered under an Act or otherwise?

2. Is arbitration usual in the village? Specify any disputes settled by the panchayat.

3. How many cases were taken to a court of law last year?

4. How many drink shops (toddy and arrack) are there in the village or in easy reach of it?

5. Is there much drunkenness in the village? On what do you base your answer?

6. Comment on any other social evils in the village, as gambling dens, &c.

A perusal of thirty answers to such a questionnaire forces on one the conclusion that village panchayats and communal gatherings have proved a solvent of many evils by nipping them in the bud, for example, street fights, small money suits, and cases of moral delinquency. In the summer when water is scarce and hence no cultivation: the villagers take to gambling in the form of playing cards and they are really ‘mad after it.’ There appears to all outward purposes no popular condemnation of the practice. Drinking is the curse of most if not all of these villages; and ideas on temperance have not yet made their way into these parts.

That there are at the present day many guilds–rural and urban–in South India at varying stages of disruption has been the thesis of the present writer's work on "South Indian Guilds" (with a note from the late Dr. Alfred Marshall of Cambridge). The Kaikola organisation in Udayarpalayam (Trichy District), the Dasaries of Chikkanayakkanpettai (Tanjore District), the Komutties of Vriddachalam (South Arcot District), the weavers of Adamankottai (Salem District) and the Pancha Brahma Sabaiyar of Madura–to mention only a few–have got their panchayats in full working order.

Constructive criticism consists in the arduous work of resuscitation of these picturesque survivals. The Peria Dhana Karan of Madura, corresponding to the Alderman of medieval guilds, deserves to be honoured by the Government during all ceremonial occasions. Every expert adviser of Government should make it a point of meeting these artisans in their panchayats, talking to them on trade matters and giving them advisory lectures if need be. In no case should the Government directly interfere in their deliberations, so long as there is no infringement of law and order. Such an indirect help is essential in the South, where cottage industries are found in a fairly steady position.

A well-organised guild is in fact positively useful to the Government. In cases of famine, leprosy, infant mortality and the spread of contagious diseases, an intelligent and well-equipped body like the guild will be a great promoter of social happiness. Further, in the effective role of fixing the price of a particular commodity and of closely supervising the indigenous system of apprentices–where many improvements are badly needed–the guild has an important future before it.

Again, these guilds can effectively supplement the efforts of the agricultural department in the introduction and trial of improved modes of cultivation. Each guild can act as a local agricultural association and introduce new agricultural implements to the ryots on the hire-purchase system. The duty of a particular village to construct the channel within its jurisdiction is sacred and obligatory on its occupants. The irrigation department should always strengthen such communal labour in the construction of many minor works of irrigation. The village panchayat may be entrusted with common lands and waste "supervised by an officer analogous to English Enclosure Commissioners." Wasteful law-suits might be curtailed if these local panchayats are given effective power to decide cases in their courts in the first instance before they are carried to His Majesty’s Courts. If these guilds and panchayats only thrive well, many of the undesirable developments due to contact with the West can be avoided.

The present South Indian village has been deprived of its powers of initiative. Cash nexus has woefully supplanted the old communal ties. Happily, the communal instinct of South Indian culture is not yet dead, as evident from the picturesque survival of guilds and panchayats. If the old panchayat is re-organised and its jurisdiction extended; if the cottage industries are given opportunities of development; if the landed interests show more sympathy towards the hard-worked servants; if the type of rural education is made interesting and the village schoolmaster restored to his time-honoured position of cultural and social leadership; if the dormant hygienic conscience is stirred up to be useful activity; if the growing fragmentation of holdings be arrested and if the village receives additional powers through further decentralisation; the South Indian village is bound to live and contribute its "communal and synthetic quota to East Asian culture."