Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c9.22

c9.22

Ṛig Veda are to be found only in portions which are considered to be the latest. We may, therefore, conclude that the Samiti was a product of the developed, not early, Vedic age. The developed stage of debate, evidently a free right of discussion, the anxiety of the debater to win over the opinion of others, all point to a culture of considerable degree. In the Germanic folk-assembly, we have some nobleman speaking and the ordinary people present merely expressing inarticulate approval, conveyed by noise of arms¹: the stage of debate is not yet known to them. It is therefore not accurate to compare the Samiti (as some European scholars have done) with the early folk-assemblies of Western Europe.