Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c10.s2.1

c10.s2.1

Some knowledge of the Videhan background is prerequisite to the study of their republican institutions at the time of the Buddha. They were a monarchy during the Brāhmaṇa period¹ and became a republic just before the birth of Buddhism.² The first mention of the Videhas is found in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* which preserves the memory of a time when the sacrificial system, as it flourished on the Sarasvatī, was still a stranger to the land of the Videhas. The same text introduces us to Videgha Māthava, the national hero of the Videhas, who goes eastwards across the Sadānīrā and there establishes their rule. "But Agni Vaiśvānara, who comes from the Sarasvatī, does not accompany him; he cannot burn beyond the Sadānīrā. Hence, in earlier ages no Brāhmaṇas went across the river to the east, for it was a bad land, whereof Agni Vaiśvānara had not tasted. However, eastward of that river many Brāhmaṇas now dwell; ... now it is indeed, a desirable place, for the Brāhmaṇas have made it enjoyable through offerings to the gods".³