History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.211.6

v4.c62.211.6

25-165 brings together all the data about Hindu oligarchies (or republics as he calls them) and his work deserves the serious attention of all those who are interested in the study of ancient Indian political institutions, though here and there one cannot approve of his interpretations and theories. To take only one example, he holds that the procedure prescribed by Buddha for the deliberations of the *saṅgha* in the Mahāparinibbāṇa-sutta was borrowed from the procedure followed by the republics in their deliberations and therefore he describes the procedure of the Buddhist *saṅgha* in great detail ('Hindu Polity,' part I chap. XI pp. 103-117). Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar also (in 'Some Aspects of Ancient Hindu Polity' pp. 121-125) adopts this theory. This to say the least is a gratuitous assumption. The mere fact that Buddha told the prime minister of Ajātaśatru, king of Magadha, who contemplated attacking the Vajjian confederacy, that the latter would not decline but prosper as long as they observed seven conditions and the fact that those very seven conditions were prescribed by the Buddha for the welfare of the saṅgha do not lead on to the further inference that the procedure followed by the monks in the deliberations of the meeting of the saṅgha (which is set out in such passages as the Mahāvagga IX. 3, S.B.E.