Prabira Sethy

The present paper is an attempt to analyze the republicanism prevalent in ancient India which was one of the foundational stones of the ancient Indian state and how it has disproved the occidental views about ancient Indian political system which mainly rested on the notion of ‘oriental despotism’. Secondly, it explores how the Jain works, Greek authors’ works, Panini, literature on Buddhism, coins, literary evidence, etc. bear an important testimony to the existence of republics in ancient India. Thirdly, the paper has given a glimpse about different ancient republics which were recorded in the Buddhist literature and in epics like Mahabharata. Fourth, it has also highlighted the key characteristics of ancient Indian Ganas or republics which were ingrained in Hindu politics. Finally, the paper has made assessments and delineated the causes of the decline of ancient Indian republics from Hindu India.

The article begins with an attempt to reconstruct Kabir's biography by analysing where Kabir was born, who were his parents and when he was born which has been shrouded in the mists of mystery. Then, the article goes on to exhibit Kabir's philosophy about syncretism by bridging the gap in between rich and poor, higher and lower castes, and the Hindus and the Muslims people by his message to maintain equality, love affection and cooperation to one and another in place of enmity, jealousy, egotism, disparity and has shown the way to the human beings to love for one another.

This paper attempts to develop an explanation for women's unequal position in society keeping in mind Raja Ram Mohan Roy's views on women's right to property. It appears that he saw gender inequalities to be a consequence of the denial of rights to women. Accordingly, it also focuses on how increase in polygamy made the plight of women more dreadful leading them to either commit Sati or otherwise opt for deplorable widowhood. It also deals with other areas of women's concern - such as widow remarriage, female education, female infanticide, respect for women, etc.

The present paper is an endeavour to define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information for advancing knowledge in any branch of study and find answers to questions and solutions to problems and in the process determine the economic, social and political development of a nation. Secondly, it examines the main objectives of research to find out the truth, which is hidden, and which has not yet discovered. Thirdly, research being a fact-finding inquiry, the paper underscores certain characteristics of its own. Fourth, the paper categorizes research into natural and human sciences. And finally, the study deliberates in its presentation the typology of research studies used in the discipline of Political Science based on their intended aims and anticipated results.