Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s1.1

c9.s1.1

The first scholar to propose the etymology of the word Licchavi was the Buddhist commentator, Buddhaghosa (c. A.D. 450-500).³ He gives two derivations of the term. Both etymologies might have satisfied the intellectual curiosity of fifth century folk or even those of mediaeval times, despite the fact that they are fanciful, unscientific and unscholarly. Several modern historians who have written about the Licchavis discuss their non-monarchical form of government and their elaborate and complicated procedure of administering justice, but none has suggested a reasonable and scientific derivation of the name of the people whose peculiar form of government they so admire.