The caste _panchayat_ and its code of offences.
The tribunal for the punishment of caste offences is known as the _panchayat_, because it usually consists of five persons (_panch_, five).

As a rule a separate _panchayat_ exists for every subcaste over an area not too large for all the members of it to meet.

In theory, however, the _panchayat_ is only the mouthpiece of the assembly, which should consist of all the members of the subcaste.

Some castes fine a member who absents himself from the meeting.

The _panchayat_ may perhaps be supposed to represent the hand acting on behalf of the subcaste, which is considered the body.