[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) › c11.58 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.58 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.58 - **Language:** English ### [c11.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.58) If Kuṇḍapura was scarcely more than a halting place of caravans or a village, it is evident that the sovereign of that place could at best have been a petty chieftain.¹ Indeed, though the Jainas fondly imagine Siddhārtha to have been a powerful monarch and depict his royal state in glowing but typical colours, their statements, if stripped of all rhetorical ornaments, bring out the fact that Siddhārtha was but a mere chief of a small clan. We do not believe that the older texts ever designate him as “the king of Kuṇḍapura or Kuṇḍagāma.” We have thoroughly examined the text of the \*Kalpa Sūtra\* where he is usually mentioned merely as \*Siddhattha-Khattiya\*.² He is referred to as \*Siddhatthe-rāja\* also, but only when the servants of the household address him or when his wife, who is definitely always designated as \*Tisalāe-Khattiyāṇīe\*, speaks to him. In some cases, even when both Siddhārtha and his wife Trisalā are mentioned together, he is called a \*rājā\*, but she is still called by the humbler designation of \*Khattiyāṇīe\*.³ - [Previous: c11.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.57) - [Next: c11.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.59) - [Up: c11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.58) · Pramāṇa