Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s5.28

c9.s5.28

It is not relevant here to give the etymology and meaning⁸ of the terms given by Buddhaghosa in connection with the eight stages of procedure. Yet the fact remains clear that, according to the text and also according to Smith, Jayaswal, Bhandarkar, Majumdar, and others, a prisoner was not only supposed to have been tried in such an elaborate manner and in such an "ultra-democratic spirit", but was actually punished only after he had been deemed guilty "unanimously". We have seen that apart from the *Aṭṭhakathā* two other *Jātakas* also refer to a book of precedents and tables of law. Yet however much our imagination may take flight on this slender evidence, the modern mind cannot possibly be convinced that such a system was practised in Vesālī of the 6th century B.C. It is unthinkable for even the most democratic state of this period to evolve so elaborate and technical a procedure. Moreover, in such circumstances justice would be impossibly protracted and many guilty persons would be acquitted.