State and Government in Ancient India c18.s1.90

c18.s1.90

In the light of this later but overwhelming evidence, we may well conclude that the village courts, called Pūga by Yājñavalkya, were functioning during the first millennium of the Christian era in the same way as in later centuries. It is really unfortunate that we should get no evidence about their functioning from contemporary literary or epigraphical sources. The assignment of minor fines, imposed upon the criminals in the village, to the donees of villages in numerous grants, however, suggests that these cases were tried locally and by the village Panchāyats.¹