The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c9.s3.6

c9.s3.6

In this Sâkyan constitution, defining, as it did, the type as much of an ecclesiastical society as of a secular state, e. g. a clan-republic, there are emphasized, as we see, the importance of the assembly, the need of unity, and the authority of age and experience. This last feature is such as was embodied in the primitive Indo-Aryan, Teutonic and Hellenic polities or is in evidence today in the Japanese *Genro* (“elder statesmen”). These and other principles of Śâkya’s politics have all been codified in the *Chulla-vagga* and the *Mahâ-vagga*, both of which treatises may be regarded as statute-books laying down the fundamental laws and constitutions (*Vinaya*) of Asian ecclesiastical bodies.