Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c10.30

c10.30

The Mahattaras or Mahattamas of villages are often mentioned also in the inscriptions. An example of an elected arbitrator from a drama is found in the judge Asajjatimiśra in the farce Dhūrtasamāgama who as the disinterested party (madhystha), keeps for himself the Hetaera Anangasena, for according to Y. 2, 44 the disputed property may be deposited with a Madhyastha. Another treacherous arbitrator appears in the Pañcat. 3, Kathā 4. The caste chiefs and the village headmen exercise a great influence even to this day¹. Besides it the pañc, pañcāyat "committee of five", so called because it is composed of at least 5 members, is a popular institution and has been recently reinstated in the Deccan by the Deccan Ryot Act and it has been put under the superintendence of a special judge². The committee of the five was composed in Rajputana of the headmen and secretaries of any two villages which the complainant and the accused were free to mention; the Hakim gave his seal to the verdict³. In the Mahratta states too each of the parties was permitted to elect an equal number of members in the pañc, which was then presided over by a government official, and there were also permanent pañcs of the most respectable people ¹, in conformity with the ancient saying that that is no Sabhā in which ancients (vrddhāḥ) are wanting (Nār. I, 3, 18; Mah. 5, 35, 58). In Nepal too the pañcāyats appointed by the parties or by the Government on their desire, decide half of all the law-suits ². In Kolhapur a refusal to submit to the verdict of a pañcāyat was regarded as a proof guilt ³.