Local Government in Ancient India c6.s3.6

c6.s3.6

Finally, it should also be understood that the Indian development of the local bodies really and fundamentally represents a distinctive type which must not be confounded with the rudiments of tribal self-government, invariably characteristic of primitive societies. The Indian institutions have developed differentiated structures and functions of their own, while the characteristic tendency of all tribal institutions (in the intermediate folk-stage) is to resolve into the original mass out of which they arise. Hence the councils of chieftains and elders in tribal communities, which are the repositories of tribal customs, derive their authority direct from the primary bodies which are represented *per capita* only and not by classes as in the Indian assemblies and unions.