Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.133

c7.133

Of the manner and procedure of choice we know almost nothing from the Vedic sources. In the Greek assembly, the manner of showing approval or dissent was by shouting.⁴ The Germans, at the time Tacitus wrote, expressed their approval by the clamour of their weapons which they proudly carried with them.⁵ Freeman says of the Homeric assembly that "there is no formal reckoning of votes; but I suspect that any formal reckoning of votes is a refinement belonging to a much later stage of political life. To shout or to clash the arms is the primitive way of declaring assent."⁶ That the Vedic assembly expressed their approval by observing silence in the manner of the Buddhist *Saṅgha*, though not impossible, does not seem probable in the light of the general attitude of the period as reflected in the *Ṛg Veda*.