Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.258

c7.258

A verse in the *Vājasaneyī Saṁhitā* shows the manner in which a speaker addressed the *sabhā*: “I salute the councillors, I bow down to the president,”² while in another hymn of the same text a man performs a ceremony to obtain the pardon of the gods for the wrongs he has done “in the village, in the forest and in the *sabhā*.”³ This might suggest that at times wrong judgements were given in the *sabhā*, causing a feeling of guilt in the heart of a *sabhāsad* or “assessor.”