Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.562

c7.562

All the four references to *vidatha* in the *Ṛg Veda* in connection with the *sabhā* and the *samiti* have religious connotations. In fact, most of the 97 verses which refer to the *vidatha* have a religious flavour about them. In not a single hymn is *vidatha* disassociated from the gods,—Soma, the Maruts, Ūṣā, Agni, Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman, Indra, Pūṣan, Savitṛ, Aramati, Bhaga, Rodasī, Sūrya, Candra, Ṛbhukṣan, the Aśvins, Jātavedas, Vaiśvānara and the Viśvedevas are the heroes and heroines of the *vidatha*. Indra, Mitra and Varuṇa are the emperors (*samrāṭs*) of the *vidatha*. Agni is the *vidatha's* immortal Hotṛ, and in an Atharvan hymn it is described as the "heaven-gaining *vidatha*."² A number of hymns associate the *vidatha* with the house³ and the above quotations clearly show the relation of the *vidatha*, "congregation", and the *yajña*, "sacrifice". That the former sometimes stood for the sacrifice as such is also indicated by some hymns.⁴ A number of passages connect the *vidatha* with three daily sacrifices,⁵ thus emphasizing its religious and local character. Some passages also allude to the sacred grass, Soma-pouring, feasts, wood, *ghee* and milk oblations and inviting the gods to sit on the sacred grass, in connection with the *vidatha*. Thus, they clearly link this institution with the sacrifice and religious rites. Agni is the banner (*ketuḥ*) and the accomplisher of the sacrifice (*vidatha*),¹ and the Aśvins are its maintainers.² In rare cases *vidatha* simply means a mere collection.³ Numerous occurrences of the *vidatha* in the *Ṛg Veda* and *Atharva Veda* and its close association with the sacrifice, worship and the gods, together with its not being linked with any of the tribal bodies, all point to the fact that it was a local congregation of a Vedic settlement, concerned primarily with religious rites and ceremonies. Our consultations with classical historians show that in early societies in Greece and Rome there were no special religious organizations on a tribal basis.⁴ The political assemblies, *samiti*, *ecclesia* and *comitia*, performed religious rites as well as their main political functions.