Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s12.534

v1.c3.s12.534

³¹ Presumably, there must have been many Grāmaṇīs in a kingdom, but the texts seem to contemplate only one as in the royal entourage. Cf. also Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 41, 60, n.; Hopkins, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 13, 96; Rhys Davids, op. cit., 48, thinks that he was elected by the village council or a hereditary officer, because the appointment is only claimed for the king in late authorities like Manu, vii. 115. But there is not even so much authority for election or heredity, and we really cannot say how far the power of the early princes extended: it probably varied very much. Cf. Rājan and Citraratha.