Short Essay on the salient features of The Vedic Polity

It was believed in the early part of the 20th century that the polity represented in the Rig-Veda was the full-fledged state system with all the constituent elements of a state. However, since 1950 the researches have shown that in the early Vedic period the polity was nothing more than a tribal chief ship in which the term raj and was used for the tribal chief who was primarily a military chieftain leading the tribe in wars for the sake of taking possession of cows and other cattle wealth but not taking over possession of territories.

The concept of territory was completely absent. The tribal chief or the rajan was the leader of the people belonging to a particular tribe and not the ruler of any territory. This is why he was known as janasya gopa or gopati janasya. The terms for territory are not common in the Rig-Veda. Although the term Jana which means tribe is used 275 times, the term Janapada does not occur even once.

The term rajya is used in one instance, and the word rastra occurs ten times. This suggests that the territorial aspect of the polity appeared at the end of the Rigvedic period. The term grama, appearing 13 times in the Rigveda, does not give the sense of a village, but a tribal unit mobilized for fighting.

That is why the Vrajapati, in-charge of commonly held tribal land and the leader of the family, lead in the battles, and later became synonymous with the gramani who himself originally was the head of the tribal unit called grama.

The Rigvedic king, it is believed, was one of the equals whose hereditary position was not unquestioned. Several references suggest that the king owed his office to the choice of the people. Most references to the election of the king by the tribesmen (visa) are found in the Atharvaveda, but the practice must have begun much earlier. Some stray references to it are found in the Rigveda as well. This clearly shows that the tribe elected its chief.

However, some references suggest that kingship or chief ship was confined to certain families, even though the actual examples do not confirm the practice of royal succession in one family for more than three generations. Thus, it is quite doubtful if the law of primogeniture was sharply defined.

This lack of strong hereditary succession came in the way of chief to become the most powerful person. His authority was also curtailed by the tribal assemblies called sabha, samiti, vidatha, praised and gana.

Purohita was another powerful person who accompanied the king to battle and boosted his morale with prayers and spell. Because of the constant wars, the tribal chief or the king commanded the services of a large number of slaves (dasas). This, along with the acquisition of large number of catties, made the chief a wealthy person.

The Rigvedic king did not have elaborate administrative machinery because the nature of the Rigvedic economy could not support it. An economy in which the surplus was very small, the king and his officials received only Bali, i.e. offering to a prince or to a god. This tribute was received in kind from the ciansmen of the chief and from the conquered people.

However, these tributes were neither regular and nor stipulated and hence cannot be called a tax. Similarly, the terms senani and sena (used 20 times in Rigveda) do not show the existence of a regular standing army. The military functions were invested in the Vedic assemblies.

The Vrajapati the Kulapa (head of the family) and the gramani, all appear to have functioned as military leaders. The only functionary who had some permanent responsibility for defence was purpatis (commanders of mud forts or strongholds).

The Rigvedic kings employed spies called spasa to keep an eye on the conduct of the people. Ugra and Jivagribha were officials probably meant for dealing with the criminals and the madyamasi seems to have acted as a mediator in disputes.

About half a dozen functionaries such as mahisi (literally the powerful one, was the crowned queen), the purohita, treasurer, the charioteer, the tankan (carpenter) and the duta (messenger) are mentioned. We do not hear of any code of law nor do we meet with any category of officers to administer justice.

Tribal Assemblies (Vidatha):

The term vidatha is mentioned 122 times in the Rigveda and seems to be the most important assembly in the Rigvedic period. Roth concluded that the vidatha was an assembly meant for secular, religious and military purposes. The Rigveda only once indicated the connection of woman with the sabha whereas vidatha is frequently associated with woman.

Women actively participated in the deliberations with men. It seems that the vidatha was the earliest folk assembly of the Indo-Aryans, performing all kinds of functions – economic, military, religious and social. Produces were distributed in the vidatha.

The members discussed the exploits of heroes, and conducted war against the hostile tribes. The vidatha also provided common ground to clans and tribes for the worship of their gods.

Sabha:

The term Sabha (used 8 times in Rigveda) denotes both the assembly and the assembly hall. The latter sense comes from the later- Vedic texts. This assembly was also attended by woman who was called sabhavati. It was basically a kin-based assembly and the practice of women attending it was stopped in later-Vedic times.

A passage in the Rigveda speaks of the sabha as a dicing and gambling assembly. It was also associated with dancing, music, witchcraft, and magic. It discussed pastoral affairs and performed political and administrative functions and exercised judicial authority.

Samiti:

All the six references to samiti come from the latest books of the Rigveda showing that it assumed importance only towards the end of the Rigvedic period. It is generally agreed that the early samiti was a folk assembly in which people of the tribe gathered for transacting tribal business.

According to Ludwig it was a core comprehensive conference, which included the common people (vis), the brahmanas and the rich patrons. Probably it was a general tribal assembly. It discussed philosophical issues and was concerned with religious ceremonies and prayers.

A reference in the Atharvaveda suggests that the samiti was identical with the tribal military unit (grama) whose collection was called samgrama. However, the political functions of the samiti were far more prominent. References suggest that the king was elected and re-elected by the samiti.

In the beginning, there was no difference between the sabha and the samiti. Both are said to be daughters of Prajapati. The Atharvaveda shows that both were mobile units led by chiefs who kept moving along with the forces.

The only difference between sabha and samiti seems to be the fact that sabha performed judicial functions, which the samiti did not. Later, the sabha became a small aristocratic body and samiti ceased to exist.

Gana:

Gana, the technical word for the republic, has been interpreted in most of the Rigvedic references in the sense of assembly or troop. A careful study shows that it was a sort of gentile organisation of the Indo-Afyans. The leader of the gana is generally called ganapati and at some places ganasya raja.

Parisad:

The early parisad seems to be a tribal military assembly, partly matriarchal and partly patriarchal. However, the variety of the references to the parisad in the Rigveda may also have been due to the non-Vedic character of the parisad. In later-Vedic period it tended to become partly an academy and partly a royal council dominated by the priests, who functioned as teachers and advisers.