Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c8.12

c8.12

Rhys Davids also held the view that "the Vajjians included eight confederate clans, of whom the Licchavis and the Videhans were the most important."⁴ He gives no source for his claim but we presume that he also held this view on the authority of Turnour, who is quoted a few pages earlier.⁵ Legitimate doubt is thus cast upon the possibility of "so complicated a procedure being actually followed" in the Vajjian legal system.⁶ Later scholars have nearly always written of "the eight confederate tribes of the Vajjians" on the basis of Rhys Davids, without noting that the originator of the theory was Cunningham. The theory has been virtually unquestioned.