Political Concepts in Ancient India /21

Introduction
 

 
samāno mantraḥ samitiḥ samānī

samānaṁ manaḥ saha cittam eṣām

(Rgveda, x.191.3a)
 

 
(Same be their counsel, same their assembly, same

their mind and same their heart....). This is an oft-

quoted prayer from the Rgveda where we have two

technical terms, viz., Mantra and Samiti, relevant to

the study of ancient Indian politics. The term Samiti

refers to a popular assembly and from the other

term Mantra we can gather that the said assembly

used to indulge in deliberations aiming at and

resulting in state policies. Some other lines of the

Rgveda, containing the term Samiti, are
 

 
(i) rājā na
na satyaḥ
sat samitīriyaḥ samitiriyaānaḥ (IX.92.6)

(like a true king going to the Samiti)
 

 
(ii) Yatrauṣadhīḥ samagmata rājānaḥ samitāviva

(X.97.6) (where the herbs met like kings in

the Samiti).
 

 
In these two quotations we have another important

term Rājā (king), which should unequivocally imply

that there was the institution of Kingship in the

Vedic age. Another popular assembly, of a size

bigger than that of the Samiti, which also met with
 
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