State and Government in Ancient India c13.43

c13.43

A well-known passage in the later Vedic literature² observes that the kings of the easterners were known as *Samrāṭs* or emperors, those of the Sātvatas as *Bhojas*, those of the Nichyas and Apāchyas as *Svarāṭs*, while the countries to the north of the Himalayas like the Uttaramadras and Uttarakurus had a *vairājya* state and their *people* were called *virāṭs*. There is some difference of opinion about the meaning of the terms *Svarāṭs* and *Bhojas*,³ but there can be no doubt that the *vairājya* states of the Uttarakurus and the Uttaramadras were kingless (*vairājya*) states, where people, that is the heads of founder families, were consecrated for the rulership.⁴ It is worth noting that the Punjab, which was near the homeland of the Uttarakurus and the Uttaramadras, continued to have republican states down to the 4th century A. D., as will be soon shown.