Local Government in Ancient India c13.34

c13.34

(5) *Pañca-vāra Committee*: the number of this also was six. The following note by Venkayya (with slight verbal changes) will explain its character and function: ‘Professor Kielhorn translates *pañcavāra* by “committee of five” [*Ep. Ind.*, vol. V, p. 138, note 7]. But, as the number of members of this committee is fixed at six, this translation cannot be accepted. Perhaps it supervised the five committees (*pañca-vāra*) of the village. It is possible that originally there were only five committees in a village, and that the work of these was supervised by the *pañca-vāra* committee. In the Telugu country it appears to have been a special honour to be placed on this committee, and this honour was probably due to its supervising the work of the other committees. Later on, the number of village committees seems to have been increased, and there appear to have been more than five committees. Even after this alteration the original name *pañca-vāra-vāriyam*, given to the supervising committee, probably was retained unaltered’ (*Arch. Surv. Report*, 1904–5, p. 145).