The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c22.18

c22.18

India is loyal to the core; the canker of anarchy bred in the foul slums of cities only penetrates into her village life because the law-abiding instincts of the people are there denied the power of expression. India still has faith in British justice, but the complications of modern administrative methods sow the seeds of discontent and prevent European officials from keeping in touch with popular sentiment. Justice can only serve its purpose when it accords with popular sentiment. The village panchayat may have been crude in its ideas, but the justice it dispensed in its own community was based upon popular tradition and intimate knowledge of the life of each one of its members. Professional litigation, which is the curse of modern India, did not exist under the native system of administration, and perjury, which is rampant in Anglo-Indian courts of justice, was a vice which had little purpose to serve when every witness’s previous life and character were known to all the judges.