Local Government in Ancient India c13.138

c13.138

The transfer of land is the transfer of the rights and obligations pertaining to it. These have to be precisely defined and recited in the deed giving effect to the transfer. It was thus a transaction involving attention to various legal formalities and technicalities. The evidence shows that the assembly was fully alive, and capable of conforming, to the legal requirements of such transactions. The first step in the transaction was of course the definition and declaration of the boundaries of the plot on sale, so that there might not be the least doubt or dispute regarding its identity. The recital of boundaries may be studied in numerous inscriptions. One of the fullest descriptions is given in no. 76 B (*S. I. I.*, vol. II, part III). Boundaries are usually marked out by tree, bush or path, by river, channel, tank, or by pit or hillock. The next step was to make the local authorities go round the plot and verify the boundaries described. When the land was thus identified the process was shown by the planting of stones and milk-bush (ibid. 73, 76 B, &c.). When these physical preliminaries are gone through, the financial part of the transaction begins, i. e. the payment of the price fixed. In case of land sold by the assembly the price is settled by the assembly. No. 71 (ibid. vol. III, part II) records the sale of one-twentieth *veli* of land to a lady by the assembly and states:—‘We, the assembly of —— sold the following land at a price settled by the assembly ——. The price which we have to receive from her for this one-twentieth *veli* of land and on which we have agreed is one good *kāśu* current at the time. Having received this one *kāśu* in full into the hand, we, the assembly of ——, sold the land and made and gave a deed of sale. For this one-twentieth *veli* of land, this alone shall be the record of sale, and this alone shall be the record of the final payment of the money, and the purchasers shall not be bound to produce another record of the final payment of the money besides this. Having thus agreed, having received this one *kāśu*, and having sold this one-twentieth *veli* of land at the full price, we, the assembly of ——, have received the money in full.’ The deed of transfer to be drafted on the lines thus stated was finally engraved on copper or stone, and signed by the proper persons, including witnesses, the written deed being called *kaiyeruthu* (*S. I. I.*, vol. II, part I, no. 51). This is what the inscription states on the point: 'By their (the assembly's) order I, the Madhyastha, wrote this document (called by the Sanskrit term *pramāṇa*); this is my writing. Witnesses sign, with the following formula or declaration:—'I (so and so) know this; this is my writing'. The signature of these witnesses was further attested to by other witnesses whose statements were recorded in the following formula:—'This is the writing of so and so. Thus do I know (his occupation being also stated here).' In the present instance, the secondary witnesses were the priest of the temple and the blacksmith of the village.