The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c11.75.3

c11.75.3

Arrian has it that beyond the Hyphasis (the Beâs), the country was exceedingly fertile and the inhabitants were good agriculturists, brave in war, and living under an excellent system of internal government; "for the multitude was governed by the aristocracy, who exercised their authority with justice and moderation."⁴ Strabo adds that, according to the earlier writers, this aristocracy consisted of "five thousand councillors each of whom furnished the state with an elephant."⁵ It has been suggested that this unnamed state was that of the Yaudheyas whose coins have been found in that region in large numbers.⁶ In any case, the state was a military aristocracy, probably a tribal oligarchy, which comprised some thousands of heads of families. According to Curtius, the Sambastai or Abastanoi (the Ambaṣṭhas) had a democratic form of government; they elected their generals, renowned for their valour and military skill; their army consisted of 60,000 foot, 6,000 cavalry, and 500 chariots. Diodorus adds that having ‘adopted the advice of their elders not to fight,’ they sent an embassy to Alexander for peace.¹ According to the Greeks the Nysaeans also had an oligarchical form of government. Alexander desired them to send the best hundred men of their governing body to be sent with him.