The basic roots of the Democracy in India can be traced to the Vedic times in the institutions called the “Sabha” & “Samiti”. Therefore, Democracy is nothing new or strange to India. However, in India with time, Kingship evolved from Democracy and strengthened. Our people had forgotten all about Democracy and we had to re learn it from Britain which in fact experimented with the Democratic systems far later than us.
Britain started off on the road of Democracy with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 AD which limited the powers of the King. The people of England then had to fight with the King in order to obtain their rights. But it took a long time for England to evolve into a full-fledged Democracy.
When the East India Company was founded in England in 1600 AD, the English people were still struggling against the King to get their Democratic rights. By 1832 AD only a small number of middle class citizens had a right to vote. Only by the year 1928 AD could all the men and women vote in England. So, India had to reinvent Democracy some 2000 years later after it lost it to that very England some 200 years earlier.
But we have to remember that the Sabha and the Samiti despite having wide powers are by no means fully democratic because they did not consist of all the male population and also excluded most of the entire female population.
The Sabha was as selective council of elders, nobles, wealthy men and priests who advised the King and managed Judicial matters, in administrative and policy decisions. So, they are the elite members of the society and by no means represented the common people. The early Vedic tests occasionally note the presence of women in the Sabhas.
As opposed to the Sabha, the Samiti represented a large number of freemen and ordinary members of the tribe. The Samiti is attended by the tribal king. The Samiti addressed major tribal business, discussed cattle and wealth and debated war and peace. The Samiti held the power to approve or elect the king.
Women (named Sabhavati) occasionally attended early Sabha meetings while they had no role in the Samiti at all.
The Sabha and samiti were mentioned in the Rigveda itself and hence date back to as late as 1500-1200 BC. During the later Vedic period between 1000-600 BC, their powers declined rapidly and the importance of the King increased. The Samiti disappeared altogether as it became impossible for all citizens to gather when the Kingdoms expanded greatly. The Sabha became more exclusive and it was dominated by the king, rich nobles and Brahmin priests. The women who attended the Sabha during the earlier Vedic period were totally banned to attend the Sabha.
While this had been the case with other kingdoms, the Vajji (Vrijji in Sanskrit) confederacy existed at the time of Buddha. The Vajji confederacy consisted of and led by Licchavis, Videha and Jnatrika clans. The Vajji confederacy had its capital at Vaishali and had a rivalry with Magadha and ultimately Ajatashatru of Magadha conquered them in 468 BC and it was merged into the Magadha kingdom.
The Shakya clan of Buddha was another separate tribal republic but King Virudhaka of of Kosala massacred and extinguished the clan during the time of Buddha himself in about 510 BC. This happened on account of the following events.
King Prasenajit ( Pasenadi in Prakrit) of Kosala sought the hand of a Shakya Princess in marriage. The proud Shakyas sent a slave girl disguised as a Princess to whom was born Virudhaka.
When Virudhaka learned the secret of his birth he was furious and vowed to destroy the Shakya clan. After ascending the throne Virudhaka invaded Kapilavastu in 510 BC and massacred the population which was quoted in the Buddhist texts.
With the perishing of both the Vajji (Vrijji in Sanskrit) confederacy and the Shakyas, Democracy completely ended in India. We got it back in the 1900’s under the English some 2400 years after it was extinguished in India. Because India got Democracy off the shelf unlike in countries where it evolved it could not act with efficiency and failed to embed the Democratic values and systems in the minds of the people.
Wherever Democracy evolved itself (which is mostly in the West), it had largely been successful. Today’s Democracy is not one of the past and is based on the equality of men rather than certain types of men like the older Democracy. It is an evolute of the society we live in.
But we can certainly say that India was almost the first country in the world where Democracy happened even if it be in a rudimentary form but it ended far too soon and was completely extinguished far before the British came in. However, the Western historians claim that Democracy evolved first in Athens in Greece which is not factual.
Democracy was supposed to have been brought into Athens/Greece by Cleisthenes in about 500 BC, but our Vedic texts and later the Buddhist ones clearly indicate that the Sabha and Samiti existed in 1000 BC itself.
However, the Phoenicians from whom the Greeks learnt a lot of things also had the type of Democracy India had it at almost the same time as they did 1100 BC. So, if at all, the concept of Democracy first arose in Phoenicia and then almost at the same time in India.
The Phoenicians are the neighbors of the Hebrews and are a seafaring trading civilization located at the Eastern point of the Mediterranean sea. Their language is closely allied to Hebrew. They built the strong and fortified cities of Tyre & Sidon on the easternmost coast of the Mediterranean sea and gained a monopoly of trading in the Western seas. Marseilles in France was one of their colonies.
They developed a high level of civilization and Greeks had a cultural exchange with them and have certainly borrowed their Democracy from the Phoenicians despite the Western historians denying it and claiming that Greeks developed their own. The Phoenicians did not know what the words integrity or honesty meant and lived only for profit. They lived in an area which is now the countries of Lebanon, with parts of Syria and Israel.
To claim that Democracy first arose in Greece is overlooking strong evidence on account of a bias of the Western Historians. In fact the Greeks actually took Democracy form the Phoenicians. They and India are the places in the world that first developed Democracy at the same time.
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