History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.117.4

v4.c63.117.4

10) and that he could try some offences (IV. 4, *grāmakūṭamadhyakṣaṁ vā satrī brūyāt &c.*). Even in the 20th century in the Bombay Presidency under the Village Police Act (Bombay Act VIII of 1867) the village headman (called Police Patil) has the authority to try and on conviction to punish with confinement for a period not exceeding twenty-four hours any person charged with the commission of petty assault or abuse within the limits of a village and the person convicted has no right of appeal to any court or magistrate against such conviction and only the High Court has the power to entertain a petition for revision (which it hardly ever does). Bhṛgu³⁷⁸ quoted in Sm. C. II. p. 18 and other digests says that there are ten tribunals common to all men viz. the village people, the assembly of the citizens of the capital, gaṇa, śreṇi, men learned in the four vedas (or *vidyās* viz. ānvīkṣikī and the rest), the *vargins*, *kulas*, *kulikas*, judges (appointed by the king) and the king himself. The *vargins*³⁷⁹ are the groups of various kinds such as gaṇas, pūgas, vrātas, śreṇis and others. Kulikas may be the elders of the families of the plaintiff and the defendant. In the Dāmodarpur plates (E. I. 15 p. 130) we come across one Dhṛtimitra who is described as 'prathamakulika'. The word 'pañcakula' was applied to certain high officers in Gujarat and Kathiawad; vide I. A. vol. 11 p. 220 (Abu Ins.