Local Government in Ancient India c13.105

c13.105

We have now discussed the evidence of literature and inscriptions on the institutions through which the collective life and culture of the village were expressed, and on the way in which the village assemblies held their meetings and administered their affairs. We have also discussed the evidence of the Ukkal and Uttaramallūr inscriptions regarding the various committees instituted by the general assembly of the village to govern the manifold interests of communal life, and the qualifications laid down for the membership of such committees. The evidence leads to the conclusion that these several committees were, legally speaking, sub-committees of the larger general assembly appointing them, rather than independent and unco-ordinated committees. Doubts on this point may be solved by a reference to the fact mentioned in the Uttaramallūr inscription that the casting of lots for election of committee members took place before ‘a full meeting of the great assembly, including young and old’, as well as all the priests to be found in the village on the day of the meeting. One of the Ukkal inscriptions again (no. 11) expressly refers to a meeting of ‘the *great* assembly, including the great men elected for the year and the great men elected for the tank’.