State and Government in Ancient India c13.35

c13.35

Let us now trace the history of our republics. As shown already, monarchy was the normal form of government in the Vedic age. It was a period of Aryan expansion and the advantages of a capable and unitary leadership were naturally valued. Curiously enough a tradition narrated to Megasthenes in the 4th century B. C. also averred that monarchy was the earlier and democracy the later form of government.¹ The Madras, the Kurus, the Pāñchālas, the Śibis and the Videhas, who figure as republics in the 6th century B. C., were all monarchies in pre-historic times as shown by the pre-Buddhist genealogies of their dynasties preserved in the Purāṇas.