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 fixed rows of stiff-standing, cruel-pointed stakes. Such were the houses of the hunters who were armed with the bent bow.'

More or less irregular rows or groups of kuḍiśais, huts, sparsely interspersed with maḷigais, constituted the street, teru, āvaṇam, kōśam, ñellal, maṛugu; a long street was called manṛam, a short one, kōṇam, and the place where many streets meet, śadakkam, or sandu. Towns and villages were named variously according to the regions, tiṇai, they belonged to. Thus in Kuṛinji, they were called śiṛukuḍi, kuṛichchi; in Mullai, pāḍi, śeri, paḷḷi; in Marudam, ūr; in Neydal, pākkam; and in Pālai, paṛandalai. In the towns dwelt, side by side, mēlōr or uyarndor and kīḻor or tāḻndōr, the higher and the lower classes. The later literature of the early Christian centuries speak of two assemblies of men who were the recipients of royal confidence—aimberukuḻu and ''eṇpērāyam. kuḷu and āyam meant assemblies; the five assemblies have been explained by commentators as those of ministers, priests, army leaders, ambassadors and intelligence officers, but the names of these, viz., amaichchar, purohitar, sēnāpadiyar, tūduvar and sāraṇar'' ,. [sic] are all tadbhavas from Sanskrit and hence it is difficult to decide that the five groups of officers existed from old times. The group of eight are said to consist of ministers, executive officers, treasury officers, door-keepers, citizens, generals, elephant-warriors, horse-soldiers. This enumeration, mixing men of high and low degree, does not strike one as referring to very ancient times. An early commentator of Śilappadigāram gives a less improbable enumeration of these five and eight assemblies; the five are made up of sages, Brahmans, physicians, soothsayers and ministers, even this cannot be a classification of the Pre-Aryan Epoch because Brāhmaṇas occurs in the list. The eight are those who apply sandal paste to the person of the king, those that decorate him with flowers, those that