[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968) › c10.s3.13 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c10.s3.13 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c10.s3.13 - **Language:** English ### [c10.s3.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c10.s3.13) As we have noted before, the Videhas occur quite frequently in the Sanskrit and Pāli texts, after their first mention in the \*Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa\*.⁷ But there are only three etymologies suggested by the ancient writers and none of them is satisfactory. In the \*Taittirīya Saṃhitā\* the word occurs in the sense of "cows of Videha" and the commentator takes the adjective \*Vaidehī\* to mean simply "having a splendid body" (\*viśiṣṭa-deha-sambandhinī\*).⁸ In this context the word would not refer to a place or rather "the point of a place name in this expression is not very obvious."⁹ Buddhaghosa, commenting on the name \*Vedehikā\*, says that "she was called Vedehikā either because she came from a Videhan family or because she was wise."¹⁰ But Vedeha in the sense of wise seems to be very unusual.¹¹ Buddhaghosa explains Ajātasattu's favourite epithet \*Vedehiputto\*, by saying that \*Vedehī\* here means "a wise woman" and not "the Videhan lady."¹² He is convinced of this because elsewhere it is stated that Ajātasattu's mother was the daughter not of a king of Videha, but of a Kosalan king,¹³ and was called Kosalādevi.¹⁴ This interpretation reveals the arduous attempt of the commentator to establish consistency in the Pāli tradition. - [Previous: c10.s3.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c10.s3.12) - [Next: c10.s3.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c10.s3.14) - [Up: c10.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c10.s3) ## Cites (2) - [Kṛṣṇayajurvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.krsnayajur*taittiriya) — Sanskrit - [Śatapathabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.satapatha) — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c10.s3.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c10.s3.13) · Pramāṇa