Q. Examine the sources evidencing the presence of Indian republics and analyze the causes behind their rise during the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. Also discuss the reasons for their decline. [15 Marks]

Ans:

The tribal political organisation of the Rig Vedic phase gave way to the rise of territorial state towards the end of the Vedic period. The territorial idea was gradually strengthened in the sixth century B.C. with the rise of large state with towns as their seats of power.

The Buddhist literature, particularly the Anguttara Nikaya lists the sixteen mahajanapadas. mahajanapadas can be divided into Monarchies and Republics (Ganas or Sanghas).  Whereas the monarchies were concentrated in the Gangetic Plains, the republics existed either in the Indus basin or near the Himalayan foothills in eastern Uttar pradesh and Bihar.

Sources for republics:

• Indian literature comprising Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain texts mention different types of non-monarchical states called Ganas or Sanghas, and this account is corroborated by the statements of the Greek historians of the Alexander’s campaigns in India.
• The terms gana and sangha are used as synonymous political terms in some literary sources like Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and the Majjhima Nikaya.
• Arthasastra mentions several corporations such as the Lichchavikas, Vrijjikas, Madras etc. They had an assembly whose members were called Rajas.
• Coins also offer information on republics. The term gana on coins of the Yaudheyas and Malavas points to their non-monarchical polity.
• The existence of republics is also proved by testimony of Greek writers. Megasthenes says that most of the India cities of his time had a democratic form of government and also mentions several tribes who were free and had no kings

There were two types of Republics/ganas:

• those that comprised all or a section of one clan (the Sakyas and Koliyas, for instance),
• those that comprised a confederation of several clans (the Vajjis and Yadavas).

Factors responsible for rise of Republics:

• The origin of the republics has been traced to the reaction against the pattern of life that evolved in the later Vedic period.
  • The movement against the Vedic life was aimed at the abolition of the growing class and sex distinctions and directed against the acceptance of superstitious religious practices which took a heavy toll of cattle-stock.
• It was also directed against the hereditary kingship bolstered up by the Brahmanas, who arrogated to themselves all the rights and privileges.
• The republics in the Indus basin may have been the remnants of the Vedic tribes.
• In some cases in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar people were possibly inspired by the old ideals of tribal equality which did not give much prominence to the raja.
  • The new movement against Vedic orthodoxy derived inspiration from traditions about the remote past when there were no Varna distinctions, no domination by the upper classes on the lower ones and no coercive oppression of the people by hereditary king.
  • This perhaps explains the legends according to which republics replaced monarchies.
    • The traditional story of origin of the Shakyas, to which tribe the Buddha himself belonged, tells us that they had descended from the royal house of Kosala. We are told that four brothers and their four sisters were expelled by their royal father, so they preserved purity of their race by marrying among themselves. The account clearly indicates that the founders of republics broke away from the parent stock and moved to new areas. This may have been the case with Videha and Vaishali, which are referred to as monarchies transformed into republic.
• Due to the socio-political conditions of the period:
  • In the early period the members of ruling class obtained a portion of the booty of war and tributes collected from the vanquished non-Aryans.
  • But in subsequent times, when the victorious tribal chiefs came to occupy prominent and hereditary royal positions in the territorial states, they claimed all revenues for themselves. The leading members of the tribe resented the situation and demanded the right to collect taxes from the peasants and the right to bear arms and maintain their own army. The reaction gave birth to a political framework, which was republic.

 Factors responsible for decline of Republics:

• The republican tradition became feeble from the Maurya period. Even in pre-Maurya times, monarchies were far stronger and common.
• The history of the ganas of ancient India spanned a thousand years or so. They were eventually defeated by the monarchical states.
  • Their military defeats at the hands of monarchical states can be seen as a result of the inability of their system of governance and military organization to meet the challenges of empire building.
• The chief cause of decline of the republics was internal quarrels between clans and groups in the state.
  • Due to internal conflict only, great republics of Andhaka-Vrishnis, the Vajjis and the Videhas were destroyed.
  • Their greatest asset – governance through discussion – proved to be their greatest weakness as well because it paved the way for internal dissension, particularly when threatened by the aggressive monarchies.
• Power in the republics was concentrated in the hands of a few clans who were not ready to give to other sections of the society.
  • The Kshatriyas did not consider other classes of society equal to them, hence, they were not in a position to increase the circle of their influence.
  • As a result, compared to their monarchical counterparts their power essentially remained modest.
• Republics did not stick to principle of the election of the most meritorious person as the leadership was given to person on the basis of birth and the principle of hereditary succession was slowly introduced, sacrificing foundation principle of the gana – samghas.
• Caste arrogance and caste system was one of the reasons for the decline of the republics because the republics could not accept the people born in other castes on the basis of equality.
  • As a result, despite having democratic ideology the republics could not bring about unity in their own state.
• Kautilya‘s Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft, outlines the special strategies that a would be conqueror could use to vanquish the ganas and these were directed towards creating dissension among their ranks.
• Empire building and universal rule, the ambitions of monarchical states, spurred their military victories over the ganas, whose system of governance and military organization were unable to meet these challenges.
• Unlike the monarchies, standing armies might not have existed in the ganas.
  • The Lichchhavis had a strong army but, when not engaged in battle, the soldiers probably retired to their lands.
• Most of the ganas, especially the politically important ones, were located in or near the Himalayan foothills in eastern India, while the major kingdoms occupied the fertile alluvial tracts of the Ganga valley. Due to this ganas lacked resources vis-a-vis monarchies.
  • The republics due to their small size and limited resources could not match the strength of monarchies.
• After the decline of the Mauryas the republics again raised their heads and flourished for a couple of centuries but ultimately all these republican states were destroyed by the imperial Guptas who pursued the policy of extension of the empire and that of annexing the neighbouring states. A few of them were destroyed by Chandra Gupta I, most of them by Samudra Gupta and the rest of them by Chandra Gupta II.

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