Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.167

c7.167

The second type of non-monarchical tribal government, we suggest, was that in which the *sabhā*, or an aristocratic council, wielded the supreme power.³ This variety can be understood as a mixture of aristocratic and oligarchic elements. These political communities, unlike the first type of tribal government,⁴ had no king; and further unlike another variety to be discussed below,⁵ had no *samiti* or tribal assembly. Our main evidence to support the claim that in some political communities only the *sabhā* existed, comes from the *Ṛg Veda*. In the older *maṇḍalas* of the text the term *sabhā* occurs at least three times,⁶ while it appears twice each in the first¹ and the tenth,² and once in the eighth *maṇḍala*.³ Altogether there are eight references to the institution of the *sabhā* and not once does the *sabhā* have a role in selecting the king.⁴ In fact, in *Ṛg Veda* the word *rājan* is not found in the context of the *sabhā*. This suggests that tribes thus governed had presidents called *sabhāpatis*.