Local Government in Ancient India c14.2

c14.2

As has been already stated, villages and assemblies other than those constituted by the Brāhmaṇas alone also existed. We shall deal with those of merchants first. No. 349 of 1912 (*Report for 1912–13*, p. 99) from Vīralūr in the North Arcot district, assigned to the time of Rājarāja I, refers to a gift by a guild of *nānādeśī* (merchants, literally, those who come from or have dealings with various countries). But an inscription from Basinikoṇḍa in the Chittoor district refers to certain merchant-guilds, which apparently had flourished from very early times with an organization that established their influence over allied communities in distant parts of India (no. 342 of 1912, *Report for 1912–13*).