The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c13.84

c13.84

It is during the period reviewed in this chapter that we obtain our first glimpse of the political institutions of the extreme south. The evidence of literature shows that the hereditary monarch was surrounded by five assemblies—of the people, priests, physicians, astrologers or augurs and ministers. Their functions are specified.¹ The subject is not altogether free from doubt but it is clear that southern institutions, even in their first-known stages, differed from those of the north. In spite of manifold points of contact and resemblance, the two pursue different lines of development all through history.