Local Government in Ancient India c13.103

c13.103

Like the Pāli evidence, the epigraphic evidence of South India is indicative of full attendance at meetings of the assemblies. In the *Mahāparinibbānasutta* (I. 4) the Buddha tells Ānanda that ‘so long as the Vajjians hold these *full* and *frequent* public assemblies, so long they may be expected not to decline but to prosper’, so great was his appreciation of the efficacy of the national interest in such institutions. Similarly, there is a number of south Indian inscriptions recording meetings of assembly attended by all the members 'without a vacancy' (e. *g*. *S. I. I.*, vol. III, part I, nos. 28, 30, 35, and no. 77, ibid., part II).