Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c8.s4.29

c8.s4.29

Unfortunately, we do not get much information regarding the internal administration of a village. We are told that the villages were under their headmen known as *bhojya*, *bhojika*¹¹ or *mayahara*,¹² and the meetings of the villages were held in a hall (*sabhā*).¹³ The leader of a *maḍamba* which consisted of eighteen thousand villages was known as *māḍambiya*.¹⁴ The guild or corporation (*seṇi*) was a powerful factor in the economic and social life of the people of the village, about which we shall see further.