[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968) › c7.141 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.141 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.141 - **Language:** English ### [c7.141](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.141) The constitution of the Greek \*gerontes\* and the Roman \*patres-familias\* highly favours our view that the \*viś\* in its political aspect was a body composed of the heads of families of the political community. Such a similarity of composition in the institutions of the early Indo-European peoples is not surprising. But the position and function of the three bodies appear to be widely different. In Homeric Greece the king consulted the \*gerousia\* of his own accord and to an extent also following the tribal custom, but he did not owe his position to it. In Rome the \*patres-familias\*, or representatives of the burgesses, elected the \*rex\* who, after his election to kingship, became "the supreme judge, the high-priest, and the commander-in-chief in war." In T. M. Taylor's opinion "he was a simple Roman burgess chosen by his peers to fill the position of their leader; but after election they owed him allegiance just as much as if he ruled by right of divine descent. He held in his hands the full \*Imperium\* or Command of the State, both in peace and war; the power that had made him king \*could not constitutionally depose him if he abused his trust\*;⁴ he was supreme for life and there were no legal checks upon his powers of administration.”¹ On the contrary the Indian \*viś\* reserved the right to banish a king. The reasons for banishment are not clear from the texts and even after his appointment he was not “the supreme judge, the high-priest,” though he probably was the commander of the armies. - [Previous: c7.140](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.140) - [Next: c7.142](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.142) - [Up: c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.141](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.141) · Pramāṇa