Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s2.1

c12.s2.1

It would be interesting to examine in detail some aspects of such group organizations. In our political advancement no effort should be spared to revive and revivify ancient village communities. The opening of *panchayat* courts in several villages is a step in the right direction. Villages were and are still the real centres of local autonomy. Mr. Anderson quotes Mountstuart Elphinstone thus: ‘In whatever point of view we examine the native government in the Deccan, the first and most important feature is the division into villages and townships. These communities contain in miniature all the materials of a state within themselves, and are almost sufficient to protect their members, if all other governments were withdrawn.'¹