Republican Traditions

It was Buddha's era. The people of deccan asked the merchants who had come from the north, “Who is your King?” The merchants replied, “some countries are under ganas and some are under Kings.” By the term “ganas,” they meant republics. Monarchy wasn’t the only form of Government then.

Alexander was at the present day AfPak border. Aculphis was surrendering to Alexander. He would tell Alexander, “we inhabit Nysa, a free city, and we ourselves are independent, conducting our Government with constitutional order.” They meant they were a Republic.

Wait, did we not become a Republic on 26^th January, 1950 only? Yes, we did, but it wasn’t for the first time. Republics of various form had grown in India thousands of years before. They were eventually eclipsed by legendary monarchies. So we didn’t become a republic for the first time, but we did become the largest republic and an evolved one.

Scholars in early 20^th century, amongst the independence movement, researched our republican traditions. They combed out these traditions from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts; and commentaries of Greek travellers.

This 26^th January, explore the geography of India’s republican traditions with this IndiYatra quiz.