Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.331

c7.331

This verse unmistakably shows that the ruling nobles met in the assembly and were collectively called *rājās*. It does not necessarily mean that all those gathered in the assembly were called *rājās*; all the members of the *samiti* were designated as *sāmityas*.² Apart from this verse, the word *rājan* occurs at least four times in the hymn and significantly the word *viś* is not mentioned here at all. This indicates clearly that the *samiti* had crystallized as a political institution from the *viś* of the popular monarchies in the communities where the *samiti* and the "nobles" exercised the supreme power and formed a special type of non-monarchical government.