Question

Villages and towns administration of ancient india

Answer 1

Answer:

Since earliest times, the village has been the pivot of administration in India. Its importance was naturally very great in an age when communication were slow and industrialisation unknown. Town played a relatively unimportant part in ancient Indian life, the Vedic hymns frequently prey for the prosperity of village, but rarely for that of towns and cities. While describing the prosperity of a kingdom, Jatakas proudly give the large number of prosperous villages included in it, but are altogether oblivious to the existence of towns and cities that may flourished in it. In the Vedic age, states were small and this circumstance further enhanced the importance of the village. In later times, even when kingdoms became large, there was no change in the situation, because the village was the natural pivot of administration in a rural society. In modern times, governors often convene a conference of collectors to discuss important question of administrative policy ; in ancient times kings like Bimbisara used to convene a meeting of village headmen for similar purpose. There is no doubt that village were the real centres of social life and important units in the country's economy. They sustained the edifice of national culture, prosperity and administration. The object of this paper is to search of Village Administration or local self - Government in Ancient India.