The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.16.2

c21.16.2

In Râjpûtânâ there were gradations of feudal chieftains, in some places, four in successive order.¹ Here, too, vassals were sometimes associated in the administration of the suzerain's territory.² Suzerains and feudatories alike had big harems which, as in ancient India, sometimes reacted dangerously on the politics of the state. A state was parcelled out into a number of districts. In certain tracts a district comprised generally from fifty to one hundred townships and villages, though the proportion was sometimes exceeded. Many of these divisions were called Caurâsis—'eighty fours'—collections of 'eighty-four' villages, an expression which reminds one of Central Indian and Southern administrative jargon. Caurâsi, however, is like eighteen, a sort of sacred number among the Hindus. It only indicates that the average number of villages in such a district would range from somewhere about seventy-five to somewhere about a hundred. The chief officer of the district performed both civil and judicial functions. There was also another officer charged with military, fiscal and some judicial duties. The judicial procedure reminds one of ancient India. A town or a village had a Cabûtrarâ or court where the headman or the judicial officer, assisted by some inhabitants of the locality, marked out by public opinion for indefinite periods, administered justice.³ Taxes and tolls were numerous as in ancient India.