Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s2.42

c6.s2.42

Keeping these points in view, and depending entirely on the early literary, inscriptional and numismatic evidence, our observations lead us to suggest that the *gaṇa* or the *saṅgha* was a republican or quasi-republican form of government in which the supreme power of the state was vested in a considerable portion of the population so qualified only on account of their birth, property or merit.⁶ The supreme power was exercised by a few of these *rājās*, elected from amongst themselves and more or less responsible to the qualified body, who deliberated and took, in consultation with the latter, decisions that were binding on the entire population within their territory. The rulers derived their power, not from an individual, human or divine, above them, but from the qualified multitude, below. In short, it was a "government by discussion."¹