[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) › c7.375 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.375 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.375 - **Language:** English ### [c7.375](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.375) Apart from the above mentions of the \*samiti\*, the \*Chāndogya Upaniṣad\* refers to Śvetaketu Āruṇeya's going to the \*samiti\* of the Pāñcālas,³ but the \*Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad\*, recording the same event, replaces the word with \*pariṣad\*.⁴ Here the \*samiti\* and the \*pariṣad\* are equated and refer to the king's council rather than to an "assembly." The \*samiti\* during the later Vedic period acquired this connotation. \*Samiti\* occurs at another place in the latter text in the sense of an academy: "He who wishes that a son should be born to him, who would be a reputed scholar \[\*paṇḍito vigītaḥ\*\] frequenting the assemblies \[\*samitiṁgamaḥ\*\] and speaking delightful words, should study all the Vedas, etc. . . .,"⁵ while in the \*Mahābhārata\* the word occurs in the sense of a "battle" (\*samitiṁjayaḥ\*), a designation applied to Arjuna, Bhīṣma, Karṇa, Kṛpa, etc.⁶ - [Previous: c7.374](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.374) - [Next: c7.376](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.376) - [Up: c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7) ## Linked texts (3) - [Chāndogyopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.chandogya.5.3.1) — Sanskrit - [Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.brhadaranyaka.6.2.1) — Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.375](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c7.375) · Pramāṇa