Tribes in Ancient India c8.67

c8.67

In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., the Pañcālas were a monarchical clan, but became a *saṅgha* (probably an oligarchy) in the fourth century, when Kauṭilya lived. In Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra* we read that the corporation of Pañcāla ‘lived by the title of *rājā*.’² The change was very probably brought about in the following way. Members of the royal family were often given a share in the administration of a country, and in proportion as this share became less and less formal, the state organization would lose the form of absolute monarchy and approach that of an oligarchy.³