Santhāgāra

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Santhagara is a

Origin of Santhagara

Buddhist and Jain literatures gives references about Santhagara with non-monarchial states like

The minimum age to become member of Shakya Santhagara was twenty years. The assembly had strong sentiments against hereditary privileges and supported the principle of free election by the Gaṇa to all-important posts, including that of Commander-in-chief known as Ganapati, Ganajyestha, Ganaraja, or Sanghamukhya which was the highest authority in state.

In the assembly, there were different posts known as Vargya, Grihya and Pakshya who clashed from time to time for power. The term Dvandva was used to denote the rival parties and the term Vyutkramana to their rivalry. Transaction of the Assembly business strictly required a Quorum without which it was considered invalid. Panini refers to gaṇa-titha as the person whose attendance completed the quorum in a Gaṇa and to saṅgha-titha as one who completed the quorum of the Sangha. The person who acted as a “whip” Whip (politics) to secure the “quorum” was known as gaṇa-pūraka. The seat regulator whose main job was to allot the seats to persons on dais, front seats and other places depending on their position was known as “Asanapannapaka”. Voting was done with pieces of wood known as salaka. The collector of votes was the Salaka-Grahapaka, chosen for this job on account of his reputation of his honesty and impartiality. The word used for votes was “Chhanda” which meant free choice. The president of the state who was known as “Samghyamukhya” was responsible for presiding the assembly and regulating the debates. He was expected to observe strict impartiality and if he failed, he was furiously criticized. The voting methodology was of three types – by Guthaka (secret method), by Sakarnajapakam (whispering method) and by Vivatakam (Open method). Generally the assembly contains four to twenty executive members. The Raja (King), Upa-Raja (Sub-ordinate king), Senapati (military commanders) and Bhandagarika (treasurers) seem to be the designation of four executive members.

The Malla state, which was small, had an executive of four members only in their Santhagara, all of them have taken a prominent part in the funeral of Buddha. On the other hand, Lichchhavis had nine Executive officers (kings) in their assembly. The confederations of Lichchhavis and Videhas had Executive of Eighteen members. According to Buddhist literatures, the Lichchhavis formed a league with Videha and together they were called as “Vajjis”[2]. Lichchhavis had once formed a federation with their neighbor, The Malla. The federal council was composed of eighteen members, nine Lichchhavis and nine Malla. The president of federation was known as gaṇa-rāja. In a federation, both parties were having equal rights even though Malla were not a great power as Lichchhavis.

Events associated with Santhagara

1. Siddhārtha Gautama,
   Pabbajja
2. According to Ambattha sutta [3], of the
   Digha Nikaya
   , when the Brahmana Ambattha visited Kapilvastu, members of the Shakya assembly are said to have laughed at him, treating him with scant respect.
3. Shakyans who were proud of superiority of their blood, decided not give a Shakyan girl to
   Virudhaka
   , son of Prasenjit after knowing the truth.
4. Lichchhavis honored the beautiful courtesan
   Ambapali as Nagarvadhu
   in one of their annual meetings.
5. Malla and Lichchhavis as per Buddhist literatures, requested lord
   Gautama Buddha
   to perform the opening ceremonies of their Santhagar by first using them for delivering a sermon to a congregation assembled therein.
6. sangha
   ) on the Lichchhavis sangha polities.
7. The Malla of Kusinara, Kushinagar discussed the problems related to funeral of Buddha and disposal of his ashes in their Santhagara.

Fall of Santhagara

Santhagara started to disappear with the fall of republican states like Malla, Shakya, and Lichchhavis. Malla lost their independence to Magadha Empire soon after Buddha’s death. Magadha King Ajatshatru conquered Lichchhavis after a prolonged battle which continued for 16 years. Later on Samudraguptas military campaign finished the Lichchhavis states.

References

• Faces of the feminine in ancient, medieval, and modern India – By Mandakranta Bose (Page 80-81)
• Lord Mahavira and His times – By Kailash Chand Jain (page 233-249)[4]
• A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone age to 12th Century – By Upinder Singh (Pages 267-269)[5]
• Dialogues of the Buddha, volume 2- By Thomas William Rhys Davids (page 113)[6]
• Ancient India – By R. C. Majumdar (pages 157-158)[7]