Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.479

c7.479

According to Roth, the sense of *vidatha* is primarily “order”, then “the concrete body which gives the orders”, then the “assembly” for secular or religious ends or for war.⁵ This interpretation is vague and so far as we know *vidatha* is never used in the sense of “order” or giver of orders.⁶ Oldenberg once thought that the main idea of the *vidatha* was “ordinance” (from *vi-dhā*, dispose, ordain) and thence “sacrifice”.⁷ There are various views about the derivation of the word, and its origin from *vid*, “to know”, is most probable, but it has been taken to stand for “sacrifice” in some passages of the *Ṛg Veda*⁸ and the *Atharva Veda*.⁹ Ludwig thought that the root idea of the *vidatha* was an “assembly”, especially of the Maghavans and the Brāhmaṇas.¹⁰ In some of the verses the word occurs in the sense of a mere gathering or assemblage of people, and has no political connotation.¹¹ Geldner held that the word primarily meant “knowledge”, “wisdom”, “priestly-lore”, then “sacrifice”, and “spiritual authority”.¹² This view also appears to be only partially right, though more convincing than the others.