Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/130

Rh the physicians attended to all matters affecting the health of the king and his subjects: the astrologers fixed auspicious times for public ceremonies and predicted important events: the ministers attended to the collection and expenditure of the revenue and the administration of justice. Separate places were assigned in the capital town, for each of these assemblies, for their meetings and transaction of business. On important occasions they attended the king's levee in the throne hall or joined the royal procession. It will be very interesting to know more of the constitution of the "Five Great Assemblies;" but no further information is available in the ancient poems which are now extant. The power of Government was entirely vested in the king and in the "Five Great Assemblies." It is most remarkable that this system of Government was followed in the three kingdoms of the Pandya, Chola and Chera, although they were independent of each other. There is reason to believe therefore that they followed this system of Government which obtained in the country from which the founders of the "three kingdoms" had originally migrated, namely, the Magadha Empire.

The person of the king was surrounded with much pomp and dignity. He was served by a numerous company of attendants. They are frequently mentioned as "the eight groups of attendants" which were as follow:–

Perfumers, garland-makers, betel-bearers, arecanut-servers, armourers, dressing valets, torch or light-bearers and body-guards.

The king wore a long crown of a conical shape made of gold and set with precious stones. Armlets of gold on his arms, an anklet of gold on the right leg, and a necklace of pearls or precious stones were the other principal ornaments usually worn by him. A superb umbrella adorned with strings of pearls was held over him while he was seated on his throne, or wherever he went outside his palace. He generally rode on an elephant or on horseback or on a chariot drawn by horses. Big drums resounded at his palace gate, early at dawn and at sunset. Time criers were employed