Representative Institutions in Ancient India

All the political systems are embedded in their historical past, though they work differently in different political and social settings. Democracy and representative institutions are however, by no means entirely new to India. Existence of some deliberative representative bodies and democratic self governing institutions could be traced back to as early as the Vedic age. Even in Ancient period, justice, religion and law were closely interconnected. The King, with the assistance of his ministers, carried on the Kingdom's administration. There was no separation of powers between legislative and judicial bodies of the state. They functioned co-operatively with each other under the authority of the King. In this article an attempt has been made to trace the historical background of representative institutions in India. After that the development, functioning and relationship between these institutions has been also discussed.