State and Government in Ancient India c18.s1.37

c18.s1.37

The village councils appear to have evolved into regular bodies in the Gupta period at least in some parts of India. They were known as *pañchamaṇḍalīs* in Central India and *grāmajānapadas* in Bihar. A large number of the sealings of the different village councils (*jānapadas*) have been discovered at Nālandā, which doubtless sealed the letters sent by them to the administrators of the Nālandā University.⁶ It seems almost certain that the village councils in Bihar had developed into formal bodies, meeting regularly to transact administrative business and communicating their decisions to outsiders in formal and sealed communications.