Public Administration in Ancient India c8.2

c8.2

As we saw in the last chapter,¹ during the Vedic and Brahmanic periods the country was divided into a large number of independent States, some of them exceedingly small, others of a moderate bulk, but none having any considerable size. The systems of Government which prevailed in those States differed from one another in many respects. Some of them were governed by Princes, while others were Oligarchies or Republics. The Vedic literature contains references to non-monarchical forms of government.² In the Mahābhārata also we find mention of kingless states. The Vrishnis, for instance, formed an Oligarchy ruled by many chiefs, of whom Krishna was one.¹ In fact, almost all the Indian nations of these times possessed popular institutions of some type or other.²