The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c10.88

c10.88

That he could be controlled by the king is clear. In the Kulâvaka Jâtaka (I, 198), the gâmabhojaka speaks ill of the villagers to the king, but on their innocence being proved, the slanderer's possessions are given to them, he is made their slave and, finally, expelled from the village. In the Kharassara Jâtaka (I, 354) a gâmabhojaka is degraded and replaced by another. In the Pânîya Jâtaka (IV, 14) two gâmabhojakas in the kingdom of Kâsî respectively prohibit the sale of strong drink and slaughter of animals. But the people make a representation that these were time-honoured practices. The proclamations are annulled. Custom must be adhered to. The need for royal supervision could not be gainsaid. In I, 355, a gâmabhojaka, newly appointed, betrays his trust by combining with robbers to plunder his charge (I, 355). If a headman was outrageous in his conduct, the villagers would sometimes take the law in their own hands. For instance, a headman who intrigued with a villager's wife was seized by the lock of hair on the top of his head, dragged into the courtyard and mocked as he cried 'I am the headman.' He was thrashed till he fainted. He was not deprived of his office but he remembered the lesson (II, 135-36).