Local Government in Ancient India c13.130

c13.130

It is indeed but natural that the power of self-rule exercised by the villages and local bodies should necessarily involve, as its corollary or rather its prerequisite, the power of self-defence, the responsibility for watch and ward executed through their own organization of the police and military. Thus the northern evidence is very valuable for the information it gives on this most important aspect connected with the reality and extent of the self-government as developed and exercised by rural India.