Tribes in Ancient India c61.s5.1

c61.s5.1

The Licchavis formed a republic in the sense that there was no hereditary monarch, the power of the State being vested in the assembly of citizens. It does not appear to have been a completely democratic republic, but an oligarchy, citizenship being confined to members of the confederate clans. There is ample evidence to show that in ancient times this form of government, as described in the Buddhist books, was much more in vogue than we are led to imagine from later literature.