Greek democracy: the Basis for Western

Further information: Panchayat, Sangha, Gana and Maha Janapadas

One of the earliest instances of civilizations with democracy was found in republics in ancient India, which were established sometime before the 6th century BC, and prior to the birth of Gautama Buddha. These republics were known as Maha Janapadas, and among these states, Vaishali (in what is now Bihar, India) was the world's first republic. The democratic Sangha, Gana and Panchayat systems were used in some of these republics; the Panchayat system is still used today in Indian villages. Later during the time of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the Greeks wrote about the Sabarcae and Sambastai states in what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose "form of government was democratic and not regal" according to Greek scholars at the time.^[2] Another example was Gopala's rise to power by democratic election in Bengal, which was documented by the Tibetan historian Taranath.^{[3] [4]}