Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.488

c7.488

However, there is not much evidence to show that only the learned and the wise were concerned with the *vidatha*, and that it meant spiritual authority. Bloomfield, on the other hand, insisted that the *vidatha* referred to a "house" in the first place (from *vid*, acquire) and then to the "sacrifice" as connected with the house.¹ In the opinion of Keith and Macdonell "this . . . appears to suit all the passages."² We do not agree with this interpretation entirely, although in some cases the *vidatha* stands for sacrifice. Its connection with house is misleading. Bloomfield's derivation of the word from *vid*, to acquire, is doubtful. This connotation may have been given to the word at a later period. In Vedic literature the root *vid* has primarily the connotation of knowledge, and not of acquisition.³