Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40.83

c40.83

It was presided over by a leading citizen generally a merchant or a banker. The Hindu Mayor was called *Śreshṭhin* or the President. According to the Rāmāyaṇa, the Paura as well as the Jānapada consisted of two sections, the Inner and the Outer bodies. The Inner must have been the executive council which sat permanently. We hear often of the Paura and the Nagara-Vriddhas, or the Elders of the Paura. On the analogy of other popular institutions of the country we can say that the Paura-Vriddhas constituted a Council of Elders which was probably identical with the Inner body of the Rāmāyaṇa. An exception is made in the Dharma-Sūtras to the general rule of etiquette in the case of a Paura ex-member of the Śūdra caste who is entitled