Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s4.77

c9.s4.77

The Tibetan tradition also points to the election of the Licchavian chief when it records that “their chief magistrate was called Nāyaka (sde-dpon) and he was elected by the people or rather by the ruling clans of the Licchavis”.³ In our opinion this preserves the authentic tradition that the Licchavi nobles elected a chief from amongst themselves. He was head of the state as well as the supreme judge.⁴ Rhys Davids explains his probable status briefly and clearly: “A single chief—how, and for what period chosen, we do not know—was elected as office holder, presiding over the sessions, and, if no sessions were sitting, over the state. He bore the title of rājā, which must have meant something like the Roman consul or the Greek archon.”⁵