Speaking in the House of Commons in 1832, Sir Charles Metcalf had even called the Indian villages ‘little republics’. He had said: The village communities are little republics, having nearly everything they can want within themselves and almost independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last when nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down, revolution succeeds revolution but the village communities, each one forming a separate little state in itself has contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the people of India.
