Indian villages have a prolonged history of their own. They existed in all the major stages of our socio-political history. A an important unit in the Indian social polity the village has played a prominent role. Villages in the Vedic Period The Rig Veda denotes "grama" as an aggregate of several families sharing the same habitation. According to Rig Veda, society is divided into many dynamic hierarchical groups. A grama consist of several such families. It is clear that in the Rig Vedic period village was a unit of social and political organization of India. Each village or grama was headed by a "gramani". Villages in the Epic Period Ramayana makes a mention of villages. According to Ramayana, gramani, the head of the village who was appointed by the king was assigned the duty of looking after the village defence. It was also his duty to collect state dues and to maintain records relating to such collections. He was in charge of important papers and records. Finally, he was vested with some judicial functions. Mahabharata mentions several types of habitations and settlements. It refers to the village as the most fundamental unit of administration having "gramani" as its leader and chief spokesman. Villages in the Buddhist Period We have enough literature to speak of the position of the villages during the 5th and 6th Century B.C the period in which Jainism and Buddhism literature give us information about the arrangements of villages towns and forts. Each grama was organised as a socio-political unit under the authority of the headman. The most significant aspect of the village organization during this period was that the village affairs were completely managed by the villagers themselves. It means in several respects each grama was independent and autonomous. Villages in the Mauryan Period "Arthashastra" of Kautilya provides us specific details about the village and its administration during the Mauryan period. Each village had a wonderful administrative system. Village administrative staff consisted of the headman, accountant, officials, veterinary doctor and village couriers. In adittion to these staff, there were also persons to look after village sanitation, horse training, etc. and these people were granted non-alienable rent free land. Villages during the Gupta Period After the decline of the Mauryas, the Guptas n course of time emerged as a powerful political force. Eevn during the Gupta and post - Gupta perios, villages and village councils continue to enjoy importance as local administrative units. These villages councils especially during the rule of Vakataka Gupta discharged almost all the functions of the government. Village during the Mughal Period Even during the period of the Muslim rule, villages remained as political units having a network of relations with other political units such as town, city, paragana and province. The administration of village panchayat was left in the hands of the local village panchayat. The village panchayats were themselves looking after security, education, sanitaton and other essential matters. The head of the village was excercising power in his own way to control the village and village activities. The Mughal administration did not interfere in the internal affairs of the village and only under special circumstances was giving directions.
