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12. Surasena (now Mathura in Uttar Pradesh) Monarchies : A monarchy was a kingdom ruled
by a king. During the Vedic Age, the post of the
13. Asaka (now in Godavari valley)
king was held by a powerful or wise person;
14. Avanti (now Malwa and a part of Madhya however, it became hereditary with the passage of
Pradesh) time. His command was the final authority in all
15. Gandhara (now a part of Afghanistan) matters. He lived in a large palace with a number
of officials and servants.
16. Kamboj (now a part of Kashmir and Pakistan)
Administration
Over a period of time, the conflicts among
janapadas and mahajanapadas resulted in the A king ruled with the help of a council of advisors
emergence of four powerful kingdoms—Vatsa, or ministers, who held different departments. The
Avanti, Koshala and Magadha. Magadha was still purohita was the chief priest, the amatyas were
more powerful of these four. the ministers, the senani was the army
commander, the sangrahitri was the treasurer, and
F ind Outind Out the like. The smallest unit of administration was
Find the names of kingdoms and their kings the village, which was headed by the gramika or
prevailing in the 6th century BC. gramini (village headman).
Villages, Towns and Cities
LIFE IN JANAPADAS AND MAHAJANAPADAS
A village was very important as most people lived
Political Life there. The small towns looked more of a village
Types of Governments than a town. A kingdom comprised of small and
large towns. Small towns were called puras,
Depending on the type of government, the medium size towns were called nagaras and the
janapadas and mahajanapadas can be divided into
capitals and other large cities were called
two types—republics and monarchies.
mahanagaras. There were forts in large cities, and
Republics : There is a mention of ten republics in a contingent of army was stationed in each
the Pali records during the lifetime of the Buddha. mahanagara.
The Buddha himself was the son of the Shakya Taxes
chief of the Republic of Kapilvastu. A few other
important republics were Vaishali, Pava, Mallas, A government requires funds to perform its duty.
Kushinagar etc. These republics were later won by The chief sources of income for a king were taxes
the Magadha king Ajatashatru . and services. A farmer paid one-sixth share of his
produce to the king, while craftsmen did free
These republics were headed by the chiefs who service for the king. The people who produced
were chosen by the people, and who ruled with
commodities submitted a part of the production,
the help of assemblies the members of which like a weaver gave clothes and a carpenter
were chosen by the people. The chief of a supplied with articles of furniture. In the
republic was called a Raja .
beginning, the taxes were in kind, but later with
However, some historians prefer to call these the introduction of coinage, taxes were paid in
republics oligarchies in place of republics. They cash. The tax-collectors visited each village for
say that these republics were controlled by the collection of taxes.
Kshatriyas; they owned the most land and political
Family and Social Life
power; and it were they who were represented in
the assemblies. As such it would be better to call You have read about four Varnas (Brahmins,
these republics the rule of the few or oligarchy. Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras). But now, a
number of jatis or castes came into being, which
The republics were less developed as compared to were rooted in particular occupations, like those
the monarchies.
Contemporary Social Science-6
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