History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c20.s1.t1.9

c20.s1.t1.9

Last came the *grāma* or village, which has been the most stable unit of administration in India from time immemorial. Furthermore, in some records the term *pāṭaka* appears; this, according to the lexicographer Hemacandra denoted one-half of a village.⁴ It may be pertinent to note that Kielhorn also explains it as “grāmaikadeśa” i.e., “the outlying portion of a village or a kind of hamlet which had a name of its own, but really belonged to a larger village.”⁵