Democracy in Ancient India

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Sri

 

Dear Members,

 

Democracy, altough nutured by the west, was not ignored by the east.

It was nurtured by the democratic culture of India as well. Here, i

provide links to two excellent articles which dwell on the same

issue.

 

The reason why I post to Sri Vaishnava groups is that it was in the

Uttiramerur kshEtram that we get proof of a constitutional democracy.

 

(http://www.hindu.com/fr/2003/10/10/stories/2003101001421200.htm)

 

and

 

(http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/histdem/indiadem.htm)

 

Excerpts:

 

"The inscriptions on the walls of the Sundaravarada temple in

Uttiramerur, near Kanchipuram, show how democracy was practised 1,000

years ago"

 

and

 

"The village is known for its historic inscription of a written

constitution that deals with elections to the village assembly,

qualifications required of candidates contesting in elections,

circumstances under which a candidate may be disqualified, mode of

election, tenure of the elected candidates and the right of the

public

to recall the elected members when they failed to discharge their

duties properly and so on. It is interesting how in every aspect of

life the highest standard of democracy was enforced in Uttiramerur"

 

It is unfortunate that we regressed over a period of 600 years due to

Islamic invasions from the west.

 

A recent study shows that we accounted for 25% of the worlds' GDP

around 1200 CE and declined rapidly due to stone age policies of the

Islamic dictators who suppressed India.

 

Regards,

 

Malolan

 

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