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( 21 ) exploitation and vidence from the people which gave. homogeneity and prosperity to this vast region.
We, thus, find that the whole region politically enjoyed an ancient republican system of its peculiar type. At the base were the sovereign self-conscious and self-controlled people. They were led by ascetic elders who did not seek wealth and material prosperity but only love and cooperation of the people. They kept the society in tact with little social tensions. Pharaoh in Egypt and Lugal in Sumer combined in them spiritual and temporal powers in the service of the people. But they were householders, not pure saints or Munis. There might have been some Munis in that region also but they did not excercise that power there as they did in Bhārata. They gave a peculiar lustre to the Bhāratīya culture and a longer tenure of life. The republican institutions began to fade away in Egypt and Sumer after circa 2200 B. C. while they endured in Bhārata till 1150 B. C., the probable date of Bhāratīya defeat in Dāsrājña War.
Power
It appears certain that the whole electorate elected the elders. The assembly had the right to elect various leaders
for administration. A Commander for War Horns as Emblem of Supreme is also referred to have been elected in Sumer
by the Assembly. Persons holding supreme office and the authority have been depicted in the art of the region wearing horns. Ek Vrātya, the supreme human being in Bhārata, is represented as three-horned. An, the supreme being of Sumer, is represented as having two or three horns.16 Pharaoh, the son of Osiris, the Egyptian supreme being, is depicted as two-horned.18 Horns of consecration, as symbol of power and authority, were used in the Minoan period of Ægean civilization. The pre-Aztec
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