The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c6.103

c6.103

believes that the Sabhâ was the village assembly. The authors of the Vedic Index agree with Hillebrandt in thinking that “Samiti and Sabhâ are much the same, the one being the assembly, the other primarily the place of assembly.” The Atharvaveda, VII, 12, 1, calls the Sabhâ and Samiti “the two daughters of Prajâpati,” and thus distinguishes between them. But apart from the fact that the passage is later than the bulk of the Ṛigveda, it carries us no further.