Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s1.t2.3

c9.s1.t2.3

The lowest administrative unit was the village. In the Praśna Upanishad, a later Vedic text, we hear of adhikṛitas appointed for grāmas or villages by the samrāṭ or emperor. Grāmikas or village headmen find mention in the early Pali Canon who possibly correspond to these adhikṛitas. In the early days of the Magadhan monarchy the king appears to have kept himself in close touch with these village functionaries. We hear of a big assembly of thousands of grāmikas held by Bimbisāra. There is no evidence that the Nandas followed this example and the detestation of the people, to which classical writers bear witness, ill accords with any close touch with life in the rural areas. Such a contact was only reestablished when Aśoka in the third century B. C. undertook pious tours even to villages in outlying areas in pursuance of his policy of dharmānuśasti.