The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s2.t1.4

c10.s2.t1.4

In any case it is apparent that representation as a political device has to be counted in its elementary form among the institutions of Hindu public life. And this representative system, in so far as election implies representation, was not confined to the national, central or supreme assemblies. For, as we have noticed in a previous section, even the rural communes were, as a rule, constituted on the elective principle, and not all village or local assemblies were therefore “direct” democracies of the entire folk.