State and Government in Ancient India c13.136

c13.136

Most of the republics had a clan origin and the members of the privileged aristocracy believed themselves to be members of one stock or descended from one eponymous hero. Membership of the Central Assembly seems to have been confined to them. In the city councils and village assemblies, however, all the leading classes and interests had their proper representation and voice. There is no sufficient evidence to suggest that there was any serious clash of interests between the members of the privileged order and the rest. We should not here forget that inter-marriages were fairly common down to the 5th century A. D. and so the Kshatriyas could not have formed a water-tight privileged order. Members of the Vaiśya and the Śūdra classes, who entered into the army and rose to high positions in it, could hardly have been denied the privileges of the Kshatriya status. A *sūtra* of Pāṇini suggests that the status of the Brāhmaṇas was the same as that of the Kshatriyas.¹