A historian studies a local manual from a mixed-caste village of seventeenth-century north India. She notes that one family group, once placed low in the local caste order, had turned to rearing cattle and growing fruit and vegetables for sale in nearby towns. Within two generations the family was being treated with more respect in the village. The same manual records that an assembly of village elders met each season to settle quarrels over field boundaries and water.
What was the standing of the decisions made by such an assembly of elders?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → They were binding on the members
Option (1) They needed the zamindar's ratification before they took effect — Incorrect. The zamindar's ratification was needed for the choice of the headman alone.
Option (2) They were advice that the headman was free to set aside — Incorrect. The headman led the panchayat, yet the elders could dismiss him, so he had no free hand over its decisions.
Option (3) They were binding on the members — Correct. The village panchayat was an assembly of elders, and its <strong>decisions were binding on the members</strong>.
Option (4) They took effect after the patwari recorded them in village accounts — Incorrect. The patwari helped the headman prepare village accounts; his entries were records of accounts only.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.2 Panchayats and headmen |