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Political Conditions and Institutions
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The recently discovered Vinaya text of the Mülasarvāstivādas sheds some interesting light on the constitution of the Lichchhavis which we do not find in Pali texts. According to it, Vaiśāli was divided at this time into three quarters inhabited by the high, the middle, and the low classes. The Vinaya text does not favour the view that the Supreme Assembly of the state consisted merely of the Lichchhavi nobles. For we find even new comers to Vaiśāli not only admitted into the assembly but also elected to the highest post. It also demonstrates the popular character of the Assembly, It contains strong sentiments against hereditary privileges and enunciates the principle of free election by the Gana to all important posts, including that of the Commander-in-chief which seems to have been the highest in the state.
Membership of the Assemblies depended upon wliether the aspirant belonged to the privileged order or he did not. There was no electoral roll giving a list of qualified voters; nor were there any periodical elections. Had any such existed, they would have been referred to in the literature bearing upon the science of polity.
The place where the General Assembly met was called Santhāgūra. In the Assembly, there were different groups known as vargya, gļihya, and pakshya who clashed from timc to time for power, a phenomenon so common tliat it has been referred to even by the grammarians. The term dvandua was used to denote the rival parties and the term Vyutkramaņa lo thcir rivalry.
The rules of procedure and debates in these Assemblics seem 10 bc the same as thosc of the Buddhist Samghas which were modelled on Sangha or Gana states. Transaction of the Asseinbly business strictly required a quorum without which it was considered to be invalid. Pāņini refers to gana-litha as the person whose attendance complcıcd the quoruin in a Gana and to Sangha-litha as one who completed thc quonimo the Saingha. The person who acted as a 'whip' 10 sccurc the quorum was known as Ganapiiraka. There was an ofice:
1. Hi, IX. 4.); 1. 13.12; 1.31.2; VIII. 24.7; IX, 3... . Ibid, III, 3. 6.
