Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s5.16

c9.s5.16

Following the tradition of the earlier scholars, Majumdar⁵ also relies on Turnour for his reconstruction of the procedure. He optimistically and enthusiastically remarks that “the system is chiefly remarkable for the ultra-democratic spirit which characterises it, and is calculated to give us some insight into the principles of administration followed in these ‘non-monarchical’ states”.⁶ Then he outlines the orthodox list of the eight stages of procedure as found in the *Aṭṭhakathā*.⁷ Majumdar’s concluding remark is equally worth quoting for the historical imagination it displays. He states that "the right of the individual was thus safeguarded in a manner that has had probably few parallels in the world. He could be punished only if seven successive tribunals had *unanimously* found him guilty, and he was quite safe if but one of them found him innocent. And it is but fitting that the right of the people should thus be safeguarded in a state where the people governed themselves".¹ It is surprising to find such a recognized scholar putting forth such statements. Buddhaghosa, our only authority, who wrote over 1,000 years later of the Licchavian procedure, cannot be trusted in all the relevant details. There is no basis, as we shall presently show, for holding that the Licchavis definitely followed this procedure.²