Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.314

c7.314

This type was also different from the *sabhā*-ruled aristocracies in the sense that it had no *sabhā* and the college of nobles constituted the council. The *sabhā*-ruled government contained mainly aristocratic-oligarchic elements, whereas this variety had both aristocratic and democratic or popular institutions; the council of nobles formed the aristocratic element and the *samiti* the democratic. The *samiti* was common to both the present variety and the *sabhā*-*samiti* republics, but it would seem that its role in the former was more important. The "nobles" of this type of government must have played more or less the role of the *sabhā*, but probably the college of nobles was smaller in size than the *sabhā*.