State and Government in Ancient India c18.s1.1

c18.s1.1

The village government was usually carried under the supervision and direction of the village headman. He is called *grāmaṇī* in the Vedic literature and figures frequently in the Jātakas. The *Arthaśāstra* attests to his important part in the administration and inscriptions of almost all the provinces¹ refer to him during the first millennium of the Christian era. He was called *grāmika* or *grāmeyaka* in northern India,² and *mununda* in the eastern Deccan³ in the early centuries of Christian era and *grāmukūṭa* or *paṭṭakila* in Mahārāshṭra, *gāvunda* in Karnatak and *mahattaka* or *mahantaka* in U.P.⁴ between *c.* 600 and 1200 A.D.⁵