92 HISTORY OF INDIA. ' [Book IV.
A.D. — of the Avails and temple, and the cost of public sacrifices and charities, as well as of some ceremonies and amusements on festivals. It is provided with requisite officers for conducting all those duties, and with various others adapted to the wants of the inhabitants; and though entirely subject to the general govern- ment, is in many respects an organized commonwealth complete within itself ' Antiquity Mr. Elphinstouc's account is thus confirmed by Lord Metcalfe : — " The village
and pemia- .. ti iti- i i*i •!•
nenceof communitics are little republics, having nearly everything they can want withm Bystem.^°^ tliemselvcs, and ahnost independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last wliere nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down; revolution suc- ceeds to revolution; Hindoo, Patau, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, Engli.sh, are aU masters in turn ; but the village community remains the same. In times of trouble they arm and fortify themselves; an hostile army passes through the countiy; the village communities collect their cattle within their walls, and let the enemy pass unprovoked. If plunder and devastation be directed against themselves, and the force employed be irresistible, they flee to friendly villages at a distance ; but when the storm has passed over, they return and resume their occupations. If a country remain for a series of years the scene of continued pillage and massacre, so that the villages cannot be inhabited, the scattered villagers nevertheless return whenever the power of peaceable possession revives. A generation may pass away, but the succeeding generation will return. The sons will take the places of their fathers; the same site for the village, the same positions for the houses, the same lands will be reoccupied by the descendants of those who were driven out when the village was depopulated ; and it is not a trifling matter that will drive them out, for they will often maintain their post through times of disturbance and convulsion, and acquire strength sufficient to resist pillage and oppression with success. This union of the village communi- ties, each one forming a little separate state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the people of India, through all the revolutions and changes which they have suffered, and is in a high degree conducive to their happiness and to the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom and independence."^ .dininistra- The ncxt important branch of internal government to be considered is the
tiou of jus- .....
tice. administration of justice. On this subject the Institutes of Menu treat largely,
and continue, notwithstanding the changes introduced sub.sequently to its date, to be the most valuable text-book. The principal court of justice was held in the capital, and the king himself, if " desirous of in.specting judicial pro- ceedings," presided over it in person. For this purpose he was to enter it each day, "together with Brahmins and counsellors, who knew how to give him advice;" and "there, either sitting or standing, holding forth his right arm without ostentation, in his dress and ornaments," to "examine the affairs of
' Elpliinatoue, India, vol. i. p.agea 121, 122.
^Report of Select Committee of House of Commons, 1832, vol. iii. Appendix 81, page 331.
