LaBong
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A serious claim for early democratic institutions comes from the independent "republics" of India, sanghas and ganas, which existed as early as the 6th century BC and persisted in some areas until the 4th century AD. The evidence is scattered and no pure historical source exists for that period. In addition, Diodorus (a Greek historian at the time of Alexander the Great's excursion of India), without offering any detail, mentions that independent and democratic states existed in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga%E1%B9%87a_sangha
During the Iron Age in India, the fertile Ganges plain slowly urbanised, with cities forming and trade developing. Like ancient Greece, India during this Vedic period, power lay in many city states rather than one empire. Some of these were kingdoms, and some were oligarchies or republics. Sophisticated urban life encouraged a flowering of philosophy and introspection. The Buddha was born in one such state, Kapilavastu, home to the Shakya chiefdom.
In modern times, the Republic of India is referred to as a gana-rajya; Bharat Ganarajya (भारत गणराज्य.
Now go and suck up to westerns as if they are gonna ever accept you as one of their own.
^To whom it may concern.