State and Government in Ancient India c13.139

c13.139

Let us now examine the causes for the disappearance of these republics by *c.* 400 A. D. Dr. Jayaswal has attributed their eclipse and destruction to the imperialism of the Guptas. ‘Samudragupta, like Alexander, killed the free spirit of the country. He destroyed the Mālavas and the Yaudheyas, who were the nursery of freedom and many others of their class.’ This does not seem to be true. The republics of the Mālavas and the Arjunāyanas, the Yaudheyas and the Madras had only accepted in a general way the imperial position of Samudragupta. They offered him tribute, but retained their autonomy. Their territories were never directly administered by the Guptas, and so their republican institutions could not have been much affected. It should be remembered that their independence had been completely eclipsed under the Mauryas and the Kushāṇas, but they once more emerged as republics when the above imperialism declined. The Gupta imperialism had not interfered with their autonomy and it is, therefore, difficult to understand how it could have been fatal to their democratic institutions.