Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c13.s2.4

c13.s2.4

Rhys Davids has shown, on the authority of the Pāli canon,⁶ that the Sakyas had “a single chief, . . . elected as office holder, presiding over the Senate, and, if no Senate were in session, over the state. He bore the title of *Rāja* which in this connection does not mean king, but rather something like the Roman consul, or the Greek archon.”⁷ This view is supported by Malalasekera when he says that "the Sākyans evidently had no king. Theirs was a republican form of government probably with a leader, elected from time to time."¹ In Oldenberg's opinion as well, "at the head of this [Sakyan] aristocratic community there must have been some leading man, appointed with the title of king, which can scarcely in this case have indicated more than the position of *primus inter pares*."² Jayaswal³ and Majumdar⁴ are also of the opinion that the Sakyas were a republic.