Local Government in Ancient India c9.s2.4

c9.s2.4

which they were held. In the concluding part of the Nāsik inscription cited above (no. 8, *Ep. Ind.*, vol. VIII, p. 83) we have the following sentence: ‘And all this has been proclaimed (and) registered at the town-hall, at the record office, according to custom.’ This suggests a double formality: first, the notification (*śrāvita*) of the gift, and, secondly, its registration (*nibaddha*). The endowment was recorded in the archives conformably to rule. But with regard to these legal details and formalities of the transactions the South Indian evidence is at once more abundant and explicit as we have already seen. It also introduces us to certain new and interesting features regarding the religious benefactions. In the first place these were, from the nature of the case, mostly for Hinduism rather than for Buddhism or Jainism. Secondly, the purposes of the grants were