Shanti Parva

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.