Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c17.12

c17.12

The discussion in the Mahā-Bhārata implies that some *Gaṇas* or *Parliaments* did reserve in their own hands the executive policy and did not delegate it to their council or cabinet, as it says that the system is a weak point in Gaṇa constitution. Probably non-delegation of executive power was more general a trait than delegation. The Ambaṣṭhas and the Kshudraka-Mālavas seem to have had such constitutions. The democracies seem to have followed the non-delegation system. The government of the *city-states* in the Punjab is taken by the Greek writers to have been as a rule democratic. "At last after many generations had come "and gone, the sovereignty, it is said, was dissolved and "democratic governments were set up in "the cities," (Diodorous, III. 38.)¹ "Most of the cities 'adopted the democratic form of government, though some 'retained the kingly, until the invasion of the country by 'Alexander' (*Ibid*, 39).²