[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) › c7.183 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.183 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.183 - **Language:** English ### [c7.183](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.183) There is further evidence to support the existence of the \*sabhā\* and the emphasis put by the later sources on its judicial functions is of considerable import. The \*Vājasaneyī Saṁhitā\* has at least six mentions of the \*sabhā\* and its derivatives—\*sabhya\*, \*sabhāsad\*, \*sabhāpati\*, \*sabhācara\* and \*sabhāsthāṇu\*.¹ The \*Maitrāyaṇī\*² and \*Taittirīya\*³ \*Saṁhitās\* also refer to the \*sabhya\*, \*sabhā\* and \*sabhāsad\*. The \*Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa\* and the \*Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa\* refer to the \*sabhā\* at least nine times;⁴ the \*Kāṭhaka Saṁhitā\*,⁵ the \*Kauśītakī Brāhmaṇa\*⁶ and the \*Chāndogya Upaniṣad\*⁷ also make mention of the \*sabhā\*, \*sabhāpati\*, and the \*sabhāsad\*. There are numerous references to the \*sabhā\* in later literature, but in these places the term means the council of the king and his palace or hall of justice. There may have been \*sabhās\* in the monarchical tribal governments also, but here we are concerned only with those political communities which were non-monarchical and where the \*sabhā\* was the supreme and only political institution. - [Previous: c7.182](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.182) - [Next: c7.184](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.184) - [Up: c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.183](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.183) · Pramāṇa