The Panchayat in Modern India

One of the great enigmas of Indian society, the panchayat has been hailed by Gandhi as an authentic institution of Indian democracy, and decried by Ambedkar as a remnant of a primeval past and an organised conspiracy to oppress Dalits. It serves today as the foundation of Indian local governance as well as a ‘kangaroo court’ that orders honour killings. Thus, paradoxically, it is at once ancient and modern, democratic and despotic, judicial and legislative, idealised and demonised. This volume presents a collection of historically relevant documents and legal cases illustrating the history of the panchayat, especially its evolution and adaptation as it functioned as a judicial institution and arena for dispute resolution—its earliest and original purpose—through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.