Local Government in Ancient India c9.113

c9.113

kaṭa. Out of about 285 votive inscriptions of the Sānchi stūpa there are ten recording donations by corporate bodies or families. Among these may be mentioned those made by the Vejaja village (*gāma*) (*Ep. Ind.*, vol. II, no. 17, p. 98) and Pāḍukulikā village (ibid., no. 1 of Tope II, p. 110); the gift of the *Bodhagoṭhi* (*Bauddhagoṣṭhi*) of Dharmavardhana (ibid., nos. 25, 26, pp. 99, 100), a *goṣṭhi* being ‘a committee of trustees in charge of a temple or of a charitable foundation’ (Bühler, ibid., p. 92); of the Barulamisa *goṭhi* from Vedisa (ibid., no. 51, p. 102). The Sānchi stūpa inscription, no. 200 (ibid., p. 378), mentions that the carving (*rūpa-kamma*) was done by the workers in ivory of Vedisa who had organized themselves into a guild (*śreṇī*) and made that collective gift, as suggested by Bühler (ibid., p. 92). Among the gifts made by clans or families we have those made by the Vākiliyas of Ujjain (ibid., no. 27, p. 100) and the relatives of the venerable Nāgila (ibid., no. 84, p. 106).