Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s1.36

c6.s1.36

The main evidence for the early Vedic aristocracies comes from the *Ṛg Veda*, the *Atharva Veda* and some of the *Brāhmaṇas* and *Upaniṣads*. However, the *Yajur* and *Sāma Vedas* and the majority of the *Brāhmaṇas* reveal very little about the subject. Most of the data utilized in this work has been exploited by other scholars, but the approach to the Vedic sources presented here gives an entirely different picture of the political scene. The material which alludes to "elective monarchy," *sabhā* and *samiti*, has been thoroughly examined, and the existence and interrelationship of these political institutions is discussed. It seems most likely that the occurrence of one institution in certain *maṇḍalas* and hymns of the *Ṛg Veda* and the absence of the other point to their relative age and origin. For example, the frequent mention of the *viś* in connection with the election of the king and the absence of mention of the *samiti* in this context indicates that the king was elected by the *viś*, or heads of the political community, and that the *samiti* had nothing to do with it, as was strongly advocated by Dr. K. P. Jayaswal.¹ Similarly, the occurrence of the *samiti* in the later *maṇḍalas* of the *Ṛg* and *Atharva Vedas*, and the fewer mentions of the *viś* in the same texts, suggest that the *samiti* was of comparatively later origin. Possibly it developed from the archaic *viś* body and crystallized into a distinct popular political institution during the period when the later *maṇḍalas* of the *Ṛg* and *Atharva Vedas* were composed.²