[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [State and Government in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949) › c19.s1.4 # State and Government in Ancient India c19.s1.4 State and Government in Ancient India c19.s1.4 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.s1.4) Popular courts are for the first time mentioned in \*Yājña-valkya-Smṛiti\*. They are unknown to the Dharmasūtras as well as to the \*Manusmṛiti\*. Whether they were not evolved before the Christian era or whether they were not mentioned as being unofficial, it is difficult to say. Probably the latter was the case. Yājñavalkya mentions three types of popular courts, \*Pūga\*, \*Śreṇī\* and \*Kula\*; his commentator Vijñāneśvara expressly describes them as agencies of adjudication other than the official ones⁴. These same courts are mentioned in the same order by Bṛihaspati, who points out that an appeal will be to the Śreṇī court from the decision of the Kula court and to the Pūga court from the decision of the Śreṇī court.⁵ In the Vijayanagar administration these courts were called \*amukhya\* or secondary courts to distinguish them from the royal tribunals. - [Previous: c19.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.s1.3) - [Next: c19.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.s1.5) - [Up: c19.s1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.s1) ## Linked texts (3) - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Bṛhaspatismṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.uddhrta.brhaspati) — Bṛhaspati, Sanskrit - [Yājñavalkyasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.yajnavalkya) — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.s1.4) · Pramāṇa