Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 183
is found through various institutions which all
imply strong collectivist or communistic sense
and intuitions in the people, combined with a due
restraint of that aggressive individualism and proprietary
instinct ... emphasizing private property
and the sacredness of creditors' rights over those of
the debtors, have given, in the opinion of the most
thoughtful sociologists and political philosophers,
a somewhat wrong direction to the development of
nations and states in Europe.29
Mookerji was an eminent historian who had published
a book in 1919 titled Local Government in Ancient
India."° In his preface, Mookerji explained, "The present
work aims at a systematic presentation of . .. the exuberant
vitality and manifold growth of self-governing institutions
among a people characterized hy a genius fo r social experiments
and constructions." His introduction "put fo rward,
as a tentative suggestion, the hypothesis about the peculiar
relations between the state and society in ancient India
which has, to my mind, the merit of explaining some of the
paradoxes in its history and throwing light on some of its
obscure aspects or chapters." Namely, he felt that "a proper
presentation of Hindu culture in all its aspects and phases
should take into account these diverse developments . ..
the many manifestations of the democratic principle which
that culture represents. In the present work an attempt will
he made to trace one particular line of that development, to
dwell upon the workings of the democratic principle in one
particular sphere": local self-governmentY