Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c11.4

c11.4

An important feature about the administration of local areas in ancient India was the active functioning of what we may call local assemblies which carried on the administration of the local areas. Two types of such rural organisation can be distinguished. (1) The first was the village sabhā with its counterpart ūr. (2) The second was the nāḍu, the assembly of a larger rural division. Besides these there were associations of a corporate character which, though not completely political bodies, still discharged certain political functions. Among them mention can be made of the professional guilds and mercantile corporations and the temple which, besides being the house of god, was also an important centre of political and economic life in the local areas.