Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.396

c7.396

One Ṛg Vedic hymn compares the nobles meeting in the assembly to fiend-slaying, disease-chasing herbs.³ The implication seems to be that the ruling college was supposed to supress social evils, such as theft and murder, and to maintain law and order to ensure the health of the political community. Moreover, there is constant mention of people trying to win the favour of the nobles who were expected to "subdue fell famine and evil want with store of grain and cattle." At the same time we find that all the members of the assembly proclaim their endeavour "to obtain possession by their own exertion," which seems to imply that all the heads of families were concerned with, and felt responsibility for, the progress and prosperity of the community.⁴ There is a slight mention of the spoils being distributed among the nobles after they have offered a sixteenth part of them as an ancestral offering,⁵ or have worshipped the fire.⁶