Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.411

c7.411

The preceding pages show that there was a more or less gradual development in the non-monarchical types of government in Vedic India, and that during the fourth stage a situation seems to have arisen which provided an opportune moment for the chief noble, the *rājā*, to become the virtual ruler and to exercise supreme authority over the political community to the extent that he could appoint his son to succeed him. This situation appears to have been reached at the time of the composition of the later *maṇḍalas* of the *Ṛk-Saṁhitā* and the *Atharva Veda*, and before the appearance of the sacrificial and philosophical literature.