Page:Corporate Life in Ancient India.djvu/148

128 The following verses from Mahābhārata furnish a detailed account of the constitution of the body and indicates its relation with the ordinary ministers.

Thus 4 Brāhmaṇas, 8 Kshatriyas, 2 Vaiśyas, 3 Śūras and 1 Sūta, formed the Privy Council. Out of this body of 37, the king selected eight ministers for the transaction of ordinary business. The representative principle had thus full recognition in the constitution of this Privy Council, and this betrays its popular origin.

It is interesting to notice how the executive machinery in the Indian constitution developed on parallel lines with that of England. As the great