The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t16.1

c11.t16.1

Thus in Manu’s¹ scheme every township or village was presided over by a vicegerent, who was subordinate to the ruler of ten townships. The ruler of ten was subordinate to the ruler of twenty; and the ruler of twenty to the ruler of a hundred, who, again, was subordinate to the ruler of a thousand villages. The civil service could be recruited from among the priestly, the military as well as the mercantile classes. The officers were responsible for the collection of revenue and preparation of reports relating to the area under supervision. And they had to protect their territories from robbers and criminals. It was the function of the village magistrate to keep his jurisdiction free from thieves to the distance of two miles in all directions. If the township were large, the police duties of the collector were more extensive. The distance that he had to guard against robbers was eight miles of the country surrounding his station. These officers were bound to repay to the loser whatever was stolen within their district.²