Local Government in Ancient India c10.29

c10.29

Nārada also has the following: 'The aggregate of rules settled among heretics, followers of the Veda, (Naigamas), and others is called *samaya* (compact or established usage)' (X. 1).³ It would thus appear that the agreement herein defined refers to the fundamental agreement on which the association rests, the basis or constitution of the guild, rather than to temporary and minor contracts, the deliberate transgression of the compact being visited accordingly with the exemplary punishment of banishment. Thus Viṣṇu says : ‘He who violates their established rule shall also be banished’ (V. 168).¹