Read the following statements about the republics of Mahajanpad period...
Explanation:
Let's analyze each statement separately:
(i) In all the republics powers was vested in the hands of elites:
During the Mahajanapada period, the political system in the republics was characterized by the presence of assemblies and councils. These assemblies were composed of representatives from various sections of society, including the common people. The powers were not solely vested in the hands of elites but were distributed among different sections of society. The decisions were taken collectively in these assemblies, and the elites did have some influence, but they did not have exclusive control over power. Therefore, statement (i) is not true.
(ii) Most of the republics were located in the foothills of Himalayas:
The republics during the Mahajanapada period were spread across different regions of the Indian subcontinent. While some republics were indeed located in the foothills of the Himalayas, such as the Shakya republic where Gautama Buddha was born, it is not correct to say that most of the republics were in the foothills of the Himalayas. The republics were also present in other regions like Magadha, Kuru, Kosala, Vajji, etc. Therefore, statement (ii) is not true.
Conclusion:
Both statements (i) and (ii) are not true. The correct answer is option (c) - Neither statement (i) nor (ii) is true.
Read the following statements about the republics of Mahajanpad period...
- There were two kinds of state formations during the Mahajanpad period - the monarchical kingdoms and the non-monarchical polities called the gana-sanghas (the republics).
- Most of the monarchical mahajanapadas were concentrated in the fertile Ganga plains.
- In contrast, the gana-sanghas lay around their periphery, in the Himalayan foothills, or in north-western India, Punjab and Sindh or central and western India.
- Their location suggests that the gana-sanghas probably pre-dated the kingdoms, since the low-lying hills would have been easier to clear than the marshy jungles in the plains.
- It is also possible that they were established by individuals with a liberated mindset who moved from the plains up towards the hills to establish communities with more egalitarian traditions since they were not satisfied with the growing orthodoxy and the rigid caste system of the plains.
- In fact, teachers of the two most important heterodox sects came from these gana-sanghas: Mahavira, associated with Jainism, belonged to the Jantrika clan, a part of the Vrijji confederacy; and the Buddha, who was born in the Sakya clan.
- Historians have understood the gana-sanghas variously as republics or oligarchies.
- In the gana-sanghas, unlike the monarchical kingdoms, power was diffused, i.e., power was exercised collectively, by a group of people.
- The gana-sanghas had only two strata – the kshatriya rajakula, i.e., the ruling families, and the dasakarmakara, i.e., the slaves and labourers.
- Land was owned collectively by the clan, but was worked on by labourers and slaves, the dasa-karmakaras.
- It is also important to note that while kinship ties bound the clan together, the labouring class of the kamakaras were non-kin labour.
- In terms of governance, there was no single hereditary monarch, but instead a chief known as the ganapati, or ganaraja, or sanghamukhya.
Hence, we can conclude that among the given statements about the republics of Mahajanpad period, only statement (ii) is true.
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