The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s1.t3.13

c10.s1.t3.13

No attempt is being made here to give evidence in regard to the existence of "village communities"³ in ancient India. The discussion as to whether and how far the lands were held in common and to what extent they were held in severalty is primarily of an economic character. This agrarian question of land-tenure is not to be confounded with the political administration of villages as the territorial divisions of a state. Communal proprietorship or no communal proprietorship, it is clear that the legislation of Ceylon and the Tamil Empire conferred immense powers of government on the inhabitants of the rural districts. The *panchâyats* as the "representative" *sabhâs* of the village people were very essential organs of Hindu public life. These were the principal agencies in and through which the masses could participate in the administration of the country.