Local Government in Ancient India c10.32

c10.32

Yājñavalkya expressly lays it down as the duty of the king to keep the guilds to their constitutional pacts (II. 192).² Nārada likewise imposes upon the king the duty of having the constitution followed by the various public bodies. The constitution is to be regarded as specially binding and inviolate, because, as explained by Bṛhaspati (ibid. 9), it has to be agreed to beforehand by the members declaring their adhesion to it by the ordeal of sacred libation, (see *Nārada*, I. 327 ff.), or by their promise in writing or before Madhyasthas or arbitrators.