Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s3.106

c12.s3.106

In the exercise of legislative and judicial powers this institution has been reckoned as the greatest among the various bodies. It must naturally have been an assembly comprising an area distinctly larger than a village or a town. From this it would appear that the *pūga* association had important functions to perform. It had to look after the interests vested or otherwise of different crafts, trades, or occupations of that territorial unit; and it acted as a court of justice sitting in judgment in cases of dispute among the members of the locality. This is quite in keeping with the regulations of the *Dharma Śāstras* where it is said that disputes arising among the various local corporations must be settled by themselves according to the established laws, traditions, and usages. This does not necessarily mean that the whole community sat in assembly to decide these various disputes. The elders of the locality and the neighbours as well were invited to decide them.¹