History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.341.1

v4.c62.341.1

A few words must be said about local administration. The word *grāma* occurs even in the Ṛgveda. In Ṛg. I. 114. 1 the poet offers his praise and prayer to Rudra so that he hopes that ‘all bipeds and quadrupeds may fare well and all beings in this village may be free from disease and may enjoy prosperity’.¹⁹² In Ṛg. V. 54. 8 ‘heroes (or men) conquering grāmas’ are mentioned (grāmajito yathā naraḥ). In Ṛg. X. 62. 11 Manu is styled ‘grāmaṇī’ and the bestower of a thousand (cows?) and in Ṛg. X. 107. 5 it is said that the ‘grāmaṇī who is endowed with (or dispenses) dakṣiṇā (cows or wealth) walks in front (of the village people)’. In the Tai. S. II. 5.4.4 it is said ‘the prosperous are three indeed, viz. the learned brāhmaṇa, the village headman (grāmaṇī) and the rājanya (warrior)’.192a In the Tai. Br. I. 1.4.8, the consecration of fire for a vaiśya sacrificer is made with the mantra ‘manostvā grāmaṇyo vratapate vratenādadāmi’ (where Manu is styled grāmaṇī). In the Śat. Br. V. 4. 4. 19 the grāmaṇī is said to be stronger than his co-sharer (sajāta). Vide S. B. E. vol. 41 p. 111. We saw above (p. 111) that among the *ratnins*, grāmaṇī (the village headman) was one. Grāma did not necessarily mean a village but may have been applied to a town (though not a capital). The headman of a village was called grāmaṇī, grāmika or grāmādhipati (in Manu VII. 115-116, Kauṭ. III. 10), grāmakūṭa (in inscriptions e. g. E. I. vol. VII. p. 39 of śake 852, E. I. vol. VII. p.