State and Government in Ancient India c14.35

c14.35

It is rather sad and surprising to find that the *samiti*, which exercised so much influence over the king and administration in the days of the *Ṛigveda* and the *Atharvaveda*, should completely disappear from view in the period of the later Saṁhitās and the Brāhmaṇas. *Sabhā*, however, figures in this literature, but in a new sense. It is no longer a popular village assembly, but comes to stand for the king's court or Privy Council, a sense in which the word was destined to be used for several centuries. The *sabhā* met frequently and had its own president ;³ the status of its members was as high as that of the high priest or chamerlain.¹ Dependent kings are often mentioned as attending the *sabhā*,² making it quite clear that it was being transformed from a popular body into king’s court. The word also began to be used to denote the highest judicial court. The historian of the Central Assembly or the Parliament need no longer follow its history. The *samiti* once more makes its appearance in the Upanishadic age ; we find Śvetaketu visiting the *samiti* of the Pāñchālas after his educational course. The king is present in this assembly on the occasion and puts him some questions to test his scholarship. The passage thus shows that *samiti* in the Upanishadic period denoted a learned body rather than a popular assembly ; it was sometimes presided over by the king, especially when it was going to test the knowledge of new graduates. The king was perhaps only the ceremonial head of the gathering, as the Governors are of the modern convocations. There can be no doubt that *samitis* and *sabhās* both ceased to function as political bodies much earlier than the days of the Dharmasūtras (*c.* 500 B. C.) ; for the latter never mention them while describing the duties of the king or the machinery of the administration. The term *samiti* is altogether unknown to them ; the word *sabhāsada* is used, but it denotes a member either of the Privy Council or of judicial assembly, but never of a Popular Assembly.