MISCELLANY - Vikram?ditya : President of a Republic
By R. B. Pandey
Summary
This article presents a historical reinterpretation of Vikramaditya, portraying him as the leader or president of a republican confederation (gana-sangha) rather than a conventional monarch. The evidence comes from two significant Sanskrit extracts found in a 1699 Vikrama Samvat manuscript of Abhij�?na ??kuntala by K?lid?sa, preserved by Pt. Keshava Prasad Mishra of the Benares Hindu University. The first passage establishes that K?lid?sa�s patron was a ruler named Vikramaditya, also bearing the title Sahasanka. The second passage links Vikramaditya to a gana (republican polity), indicating that he presided over a federation of republican states. The mention of ?ata (hundred) republics is regarded as a symbolic exaggeration rather than a literal countPolitical and Historical Context. Seat of Power: Vikramaditya is traditionally associated with Ujjayin? (Avanti, or Western Malwa). His reign is celebrated for the defeat of the ?akas and the foundation of the Vikrama Era (commonly dated 58 B.C.), which originated as the M?lava Era (M?lava-gana-sthiti-k?la), the earliest known local era of Malwa evidenced by the Mandasor stone inscription. Republican Identity of the M?lavas: The M?lavas are shown to have been an ancient republican tribe, originally located in the Punjab during Alexander�s Indian campaign. Following successive pressures�from Alexander�s invasion, Mauryan imperial expansion, and Bactrian incursions�they migrated via eastern Rajasthan and eventually settled in ?kara-Avanti (Malwa), giving their name to the region. Archaeological evidence, including coins inscribed �M?lava-ga?asya jaya?� (Victory of the M?lava Republic), confirms the existence of the M?lava republic in the first century B.C. Conflict with the ?akas and Formation of the Vikrama Samvat: Around the first century B.C., the ?akas, having occupied S?st?n and parts of Sindh, attempted to invade Avanti (Malwa and Saur???ra). Their advance was repelled by a coalition of Central Indian republics, led by the M?lava gana under Vikramaditya�s leadership. This collective victory was commemorated by instituting an era, initially called M?lava-gana-sthiti-k?la and later widely known as the Vikrama Samvat
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Conclusion
R. B. Pandey concludes that Vikramaditya was the presiding head of a republican confederation�a �President of a Republic� in political terms�who successfully united various gana-based states against foreign aggression. This interpretation highlights an early Indian model of collective leadership and federated republicanism, predating later monarchical empires. (Modern scholarship continues to support that the Vikrama Era began in 58 B.C. and evolved from the older M?lava Era.)