Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s1.39

c6.s1.39

This analytic and unorthodox approach to the interpretation of the Vedic data gives an altogether different result which is probably more convincing and satisfactory than that which has been achieved heretofore. Similarly, investigations into the *Brāhmaṇas* and *Upaniṣads* reveal that during the period of their composition monarchy had become virtually the universal form of government. The aristocratic or quasi-republican types of government were extinct or at least did not flourish in the Kurukṣetra region where the bulk of Brāhmaṇic literature was composed. It is not unlikely that some of the early Vedic aristocracies had become monarchies while others moved eastward in order to retain their individual freedom and principles of popular government.