Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c16.54

c16.54

§ 73. The A m b a s h ṭ h a s as a political community are mentioned by Patañjali and the Mahā-Bhārata.¹ The Purāṇas say that A m b a s h ṭ h a of the House of Aila founded a dynasty in the Punjab.² The Purāṇas in giving the early account know them as a monarchical people. The change in their constitution thus was from monarchy to republic like the change in that of the Śibis (§ 65 *n.*) The Purāṇas say the same about the Y a u d h e y a s, that they too, along with the Ambashṭhas, were monarchical. But the later monumental history of the Yaudheyas is the history of a republican people. The Purāṇic data therefore must refer to the origins.³