The Pallavas were a dynasty of South India.

They ruled for a very long time, for as many as six centuries
from third century CE onwards. Initially they were a small power in what is now northern Tamil Nadu,
with their capital at Kanchipuram. From the sixth century they figure as a major regional power,
dominating a large territory that included the domains of several small rulers, and defending it in an
almost continuous series of wars against the Pandyas of Madurai (southern Tamil Nadu) and the
Chalukyas. Their power began to wane from about mid-eighth century. The Pallavas had a well
organized administrative system.

King: The king was at the centre of administration in which he was assisted by able ministers. The kings
claimed their descent from the God Brahma. It has hereditary. Yet, on one occasion a king was elected.
Most of the kings were accomplished scholar including Mahendravarman I. Many of the vaishnava
alvars and saiva nayanars flourished during their rule. The kings adopted high-sounding titles like
maharajadhiraja, dharma-maharjadhiraja, asvamedha-yaji (he who has performed the asvamedha
sacrifices) They were assisted by ministers. History shows that the ministerial council played a great part
in the state policy in the later period. He was the fountain of justice. The king maintained a well-trained
army. He provided land-grants to the temples known as Devadhana and also to the Brahmans known as
Brahmadeya. It was also the responsibility of the central government to provide irrigation facilities to
the lands. A number of irrigation tanks were dug by the Pallava kings. The irrigation tanks at
Mahendravadi and Mamandoor were dug during the reign of Mahendravarman I.

Administrative Divisions: The Pallavas had a vast empire. It had extended up to the Nellore district in
the North and up to the river South Pennar in the South. On the west, it had extended up to the
Western Ghats and on the east up to the Bay of Bengal. It was very difficult to have administrative
control over such a vast empire. Therefore, the Pallavas had divided the empire into several
administrative units. They were called as Mandalam, Kottam, Nadu and Ur. These administrative
divisions may be compared with the modern administrative units, namely province, district, taluk and
village. Mandalam: The biggest unit of the Pallava Empire was Mandalam or Rashtra. It had remained
almost an autonomous unit. The Pallava king had appointed a prince or Yuvaraja as the governor of a
Mandalam. This was done to have direct central control over the provinces. Kottam: Each Mandalam
was divided into several Kottams or Vishayas. The number of Kottams varied according to the size of the
Mandalam. For example, the Thondai Mandalam was divided into twenty-four Kottams. Officials were
appointed by the king to administer each Kottam. Nadu: The next administrative unit was called Nadu. It
was bigger than Oor or Village. There were several villages in each Nadu. A council called Naattar was in
charge of the administration of Nadu. Oor: The Oor or village was the smallest unit of the Pallava
administration. It was also under the control of the village committees called Sabhas, The village Sabha
remained almost autonomous in looking after the day-to-day administration of the village.

Officials Under the Pallava: A hierarchy of officials in provincial administration, the governor of a
province was assisted by district officers, who in turn worked in collaboration with autonomous local
bodies. In local administration the meeting of assembles were frequent, and the administration the
meeting of assemblies were frequent, and the assemblies were of many varieties and of many levels.
Often special meetings were held. As the village level the assembly was the sabha which looked after
almost all the matters of the village, along with endowments, irrigation, crime, maintaining census and
other necessary records, Courts at villages level dealt with minor criminal cases. The judicial courts of
the town and districts were presided over by government officials, climaxing with the king as the
supreme arbiter of justice. The sabha worked in close association with the urar, and informal gathering
of the entire village. Above this unit was a district administration. Finally, the head man of the villages
was the link between the village assembly and the official administration.

Land pattern: Theoretically the king owned the land. The status of a village depended on the prevalent
land tenure. The fist variety was the village with inter-caste population where in the people paid taxes to
the king. The second was the brahmadeya village in which the entire land was donated to a single
Brahmin or a group of brahmins. A variation of this village was the agrahars grant which, was an entire
village settlement of brahmins. Both these forms were exempt from royal taxes. In the devadana village
the revenue was donated to a temple, and the temple authorities in turn provided employment for the
villagers in the temple whenever possible. In the Pallava period the first two categories of villages were
in vogue.

Apart from these major points relating to land there was a special category of land, the sripatti or tank
land. The revenue from such a land was sent apart for the maintenance of the village

tank. The tank itself was built by the efforts of the entire village. All shared the water stored in the tank.
Very many inscriptions of the Pallavas refer to the up-keep of tanks.

Taxation System: There are two Points about taxes. The land revenue varied from one-sixth to one
tenth of the produce of the land. This was paid to the State. The local taxes that were collected in a
village were spent for the needs of the village. As land revenue was necessarily small, the State revenue
was supplemented by additional taxes on draught cattle, marriage-parties, potters, makers of clarified
butter, textile manufacturers, washer men and weavers. The major source of revenue was from land,
since the revenue from mercantile activity was not fully exploited. Detailed information on the tax
system could also be traced from the Pallava inscriptions. Land tax was the primary source of the
government revenue. The Brahmadeya and Devadhana lands were exempted from tax. Traders and
artisans such as carpenters, goldsmiths, washer-men, oil-pressers and weavers paid taxes to the
government.

Expenditure: Regarding expenditure, most to the revenue want for the maintenance of army. The king
preferred a standing army instead of feudal levie. The army primarily consisting of food soldiers and
cavalry along with a sprinkling of elephants. Indeed the Pallavas developed a navy although the
mercantile activity was not great. Two dockyards were built at Mahablipuram and Nagabatnam. This
pioneeringh effort of the Pallavas reached its climax during the days of cholas. The navy served a double
purpose. It was meant for defence and also assisted the maritime Trade with south-east Asia,
particularly with the three kingdoms of Kambuja (Cambodia) Champa (Annam) and Shrivijaya (Malayan
peninsula and Sumatra).

A well-organized administration had existed in the Pallava kingdom. We get a lot of information from
the literature and inscriptions to know the various aspects of the Pallava administration. The Pallava
kings had introduced several administrative institutions in the Tamil country. Mostly, they had adopted
the Mauryan system of administration and suitably modified it. It can be said that generally there was
peace and order in the Pallava kingdom due to their efficient administrative system.