The Colas c12.123

c12.123

29. As may be expected, scholars who are not in a position to control Kanakasabhai's statements by going to his sources have been much intrigued by them. In his thoughtful work on *Corporate Life in Ancient India*, for instance, R. C. Majumdar takes a big leap forward from the point to which Kanakasabhai had taken him, and affirms: 'It appears to me that the so called Five Assemblies were really the five committees of a Great Assembly. The writer has traced them to the Magadha Empire, but they seem to me rather the modifications of the Vedic Samiti which left its reminiscence in every part of India.' And these hoary assemblies also by a miracle anticipated the most modern developments in political organisation! For Majumdar continues: 'In any case the representative character of these bodies, and the effective control which they exercised over the administration is clearly established. It is interesting to note also that the 'ministers' formed one of the assemblies. The assemblies, taken together, may justly be compared with the Privy Council referred to above, the assembly of the ministers corresponding with the Cabinet composed of a selected few.' (Second Edition pp. 130-1). Aho nirankuśatvam utprēkṣāyāḥ!