State and Government in Ancient India c23.s4.32

c23.s4.32

A popular assembly or parliament at the Rāshṭrakūṭa capital is nowhere referred to, and probably no such body existed. In former days when communications were difficult, the regular meeting of a popular assembly at a distant capital was not easy to arrange. In the Rāshṭrakūṭa administration, the popular voice could not make itself effectively felt in the central but only in the village administration. We must, however, remember in this connection that the village councils of this period discharged many of the functions of the provincial and central governments of modern times; the popular element could effectively control the administration by having a decisive voice in these local bodies.