Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c14.s4.15

c14.s4.15

In the third place, the order, spread out in communities big or small, over the whole country and had no central government. In organisation it had left the Brahmanical Hindus far behind, but it never approached the Roman Catholic Church or even the Franciscan and Dominic orders. It never had a real head, there was no hierarchy connecting the various communities together. The Buddha and his word were the only universally acknowledged guides throughout the centuries. An intense spirit of localism therefore pervaded the order. Here lay its strength and its weakness.