Local Government in Ancient India c13.152

c13.152

From a review of these functions, it is clear that a vast sphere of administrative work was occupied by these self-governing bodies, leaving to the central government but very few points of contact with the ordinary concerns or the daily life of the people. It is indeed the case of a monarchy limited by a vast democratic organization which made itself responsible for the welfare of the masses. And this limiting con-dition of Indian absolutism had been in operation from times much anterior to the evidence considered here. For we find even a statement in the third cen-tury B. C. of Megasthenes that the popular assemblies of the South held in check the power of kings, while old Tamil literature brings out the same fact (V. Kana-kasabhai, *The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago*, pp. 609 f.).