[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) › c13.s2.4 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c13.s2.4 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c13.s2.4 - **Language:** English ### [c13.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.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. - [Previous: c13.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c13.s2.3) - [Next: c13.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c13.s2.5) - [Up: c13.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c13.s2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c13.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c13.s2.4) · Pramāṇa