who lived in the villages?

Dear Student,

There were at least three different kinds of people living in most villages .

In the Southern region, 

• large landowners were known as vellalar, 
• ordinary ploughmen were known as uzhavar, 
• and landless labourers, including slaves, were known as kadaisiyar and adimai. 

In the northern part of the country, 

• The village headman was known as the grama bhojaka. The post was hereditary. The grama bhojaka was often the largest landowner. Generally, he had slaves and hired workers to cultivate the land. Besides, as he was powerful, the king often used him to collect taxes from the village. He also functioned as a judge, and sometimes as a policeman. 
• Apart from the gramabhojaka, there were other independent farmers, known as grihapatis, most of whom were smaller landowners. 
• And then there were men and women such as the dasa karmakara, who did not own land, and had to earn a living working on the fields owned by others. In most villages there were also some crafts persons such as the blacksmith, potter, carpenter and weaver.