The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

24

VILLAGE

ADMINISTRATION

closely resembles

the Mogul

palace

buildings

ofthe

sixteenth

andseventeenth

centuries.

Though the

ancient Indo-Aryan

villagewas

essentially a

self-governingcommunity,

managing

itsown

domestic

concerns

and onlypaying toa

central

authoritythe

customaryvali, or

tribute,duetoit, the

principle of

co-operation

forthe purpose

of

carrying out larger

public works

which were

beyond the

meansofsinglevillages

wasalways

recognised. Not

onlywere

the

villageartisans liable to

becalled upon

forthe King's

ser-

vice

inwarorpeace, butthe

villagesunited

oftheirown

accord

to

build assembly-halls,

pilgrims' rest-houses,

and irrigation

works,

tolay outand

plant publicparks, and

tokeep inorder

the

main roadsofthe

district.^

The wonderful

organisation of Chandragupta's

empire, of

whichMegasthenesgives

us glimpses, was not

thecreationof

the Mauryan

statesmen,butthecentralisationof

thesocialand

economicactivitiesof

theself-governingIndo-Aryan

villagecom-

munities.

Pataliputraitselfwasonlyanaggregation

ofIndian

villages

joined together byspacious parks(thesacred

groves)

andstately

avenues. Theadministrationofthecityby

aboard

of

thirty commissioners,^divided into six

committees of five

memberseach,wasonlyanenlargementoi'dx.t^tzX.tdipanchdyat,

orCouncil ofFive,assisted byastaffof permanent

officials

—

theheadman,accountant,watchman,banker,

master-craftsman,

schoolmaster, story-teller, and musicians—

by

which every

Indo-Aryanvillagemanaged itsownaffairs.

An

inscriptionof

thetenthcenturya.d.,latelydiscoveredinSouthern India,pre-

scribes thequalifications ofvotersandthemodeofelection for

a

municipalcommission,similar

tothat

ofChandragupta'scity,

consisting

ofthirtymembers

—one foreachward ofthe town.^

^

RhysDavids,

"

BuddhistIndia,"

p.49.

*

SeeVincentSmith's"EarlyHistoryofIndia,"

pp. 125-7.

*

Seeinfra,

pp.

172-4.