Explanation:

Recently, the Prime Minister of India referred to the Uttaramerur inscription in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, while discussing India’s democratic history.

• The famous inscription from Parantaka I’s (who belongs to the Chola dynasty) reign is found on the walls of the Vaikunda Perumal Temple.

• The inscription gives details of the functioning of the local Sabha, i.e., the village assembly.

• A Sabha was an assembly exclusively of Brahmans and had specialised committees tasked with different things.

• This gave details about how members were selected, the required qualifications, their roles and responsibilities, and even the circumstances in which they could be removed.

Required qualifications

• It includes ownership of a certain amount of land, having a house, being between the age of 35 and 70 and “knowing mantras and Brahmanas” (from the Vedic corpus).

• An exception can be made on land ownership if the person has learnt at least “one Veda and four Bhashyas”. One must also be “well-versed in business” and “virtuous”.

Hence both statements are correct.