Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c16.21

c16.21

The area covered by each republic was comparatively small, and in those more difficult times geography led to isolation, as means of communication were rare and bad. The trend of the time was towards stronger monarchies. The Magadhan kingdom was expanding at the cost of its neighbours, and Aṅga had already been annexed. Similar was the case with Kosala, which had gained control over Kāsī, though about 200 years earlier the growth of the republican states had been at the cost of monarchies. Circumstances in northeastern India were not favourable for the prosperity of republicanism after the time of the Buddha, though this by no means implies that the Buddha's presence was the cause of republican prosperity.