Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.307

c7.307

Another variety of non-monarchical government found during the Vedic period is one in which the nobles (*rājās*) appear to have been the leaders of the political community, and to have ruled in collaboration with the *samiti*. Our main grounds for this assertion are the references to the *samiti* and the kings meeting in the *samiti* in some Ṛg Vedic hymns,¹ the references to "kings" or rather "nobles" in the *Ṛg Veda*, *Atharva Veda* and some other sources, and the mention of the *samiti* in the *Atharva Veda* where the *sabhā* does not figure with it.²