The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.13

c10.13

Nigama as a term for the municipality is used in the Nasik inscriptions¹ of General Uṣavadâta in the first century A. C. It occurs also in the Casket inscriptions² of the second century found at Bhattiprolu in Southern India. In the fourth century Yâjñavalkya³ also uses the term. But it is questionable if he would have employed it to denote the same institution for which he used *pûga* and *gaṇa*. In his hands, at any rate, *nigama*, seems to be specifically applied to a much limited category, viz., the corporation of traders. In any case *sabhâ* as the name of a meeting, council or assembly would stand equally for the *concilium* or *comitia* of the *pûga*, the *gaṇa*, and the *nigama*.