The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.148

c18.148

In the sphere of local government one of the most striking facts which emerge from the inscriptions of the Deccan and the south is that administrative divisions were called after (1) the number of villages which they contained or were supposed to contain, and (2) the town which formed the headquarters of the administration. The Banavâsi Twelve-thousand is often mentioned in the inscriptions. In some inscriptions Banavâsi is said to be a great city and its governor is clearly a feudatory. Other epigraphic records speak of the Belgali Three-hundred, the Kundur Five-hundred, the Purigere Three-hundred, the Kundarage, Seventy. A single governor might be in charge of several such areas. The son of one such governor was placed in charge of a smaller area, the Nidugandage Twelve which probably formed part of his father's province. Elsewhere a village called Nilguṇḍ forms part of the Mulaguṇḍa Twelve which itself was part of Belvola Three-hundred.²