State and Government in Ancient India c17.s4.1

c17.s4.1

Between the district and the village there were some administrative divisions, whose nature and dimensions varied widely from age to age. Manu recommends⁶ that ten villages should form one administrative unit, and ten of the latter should constitute a bigger one, consisting of 100 villages, which would roughly correspond to the modern Tehsil or Taluka. The district, which according to Manu was to consist of a thousand villages, would include ten Tehsils. The *Mahābhārata* suggests some variation in this decimal system of administrative units and recommends intermediate groups of twenty and thrity villages.¹ A glance at the epigraphical data shows that if not this exact system, its underlying principle was followed in several provinces. During the 8th and 9th centuries there were divisions of Vavullāla and Ruiddha 10 villages, Sihari and Sārakachchha 12 villages and Sebli 30 villages in the districts of Paithan (in Bombay state), Karpaṭavāṇijya, Vaṭapadraka (in Gujarat) and Purigeri (in Karnātak)² respectively. Pravareśvara was the headquarter of an administrative group of 26 villages in the Vākāṭaka kingdom in the 5th century.³ Tanukūpa, Ghaḍahaḍika and Khattadūā were the headquarters of a group of 12 villages in Rajputana, Gujarat and Bundelkhand respectively during the 11th and 12th centuries ;⁴ Nyāyapadraka group contained 17, Makkāla 42 and Varakheṭaka 63 villages⁵ in Mālwa during the same period. Divisions containing 84 and 126 villages are also known.⁶ These units seem to have been known after the name of the important towns situated in them.