State and Government in Ancient India c18.s1.122

c18.s1.122

We shall now consider the relations between the Central Government and the Village Council. No doubt some Smṛitis occasionally state that the Village Councils derive their power from the king or the Central Government.¹ This statement however, indicates the greater power of the Central Government, but is not historically true. Most of the dynasties in ancient India used to flourish for about two centuries. The village communities and councils were, on the other hand, of hoary antiquity and derived their powers from immemorial custom and not from any charter or delegation from the Central Government. When the Central Government became more organised and developed, it often sought to control and curtail the powers of the Village Councils. Sometimes king's officers are seen to be present, when the Primary Assemblies met to change their constitution;² sometimes the rules are stated to have received the approval of the king himself.³ These, however, were rather exceptional cases; it is not unlikely that king's officers might have been occasionally present because they happened to be in the village, and that the king may have accorded approval to proposals formally submitted to him by the Primary Assembly. A persual of the evidence, however, clearly sugests that usually the village Primary Assemblies themselves determined the constitution of their committees and not the Central Government. The same probably was the case in northern India as well. There the Village Council consisted of only about five persons, who were raised to that body by the general approval of the whole community. There was hardly any scope for the Central Government to dictate any constitution.