MPPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 51 of 100

Correct — B, Prajapati. A hymn of the Atharvaveda (VII.12) invokes the two Vedic assemblies together and calls them the two daughters of Prajapati — the speaker prays that Sabha and Samiti, 'the daughters of Prajapati', should be of one mind and favour him when he speaks in them. Giving the assemblies a divine parentage was a way of giving them sanctity alongside the raja. Prajapati, the 'lord of creatures' and creator-god, is the deity who rises to the head of the pantheon in the later Vedic and Brahmana texts, which is exactly the literature in which the Sabha and the Samiti are functioning institutions.

• (a)Agni — Agni is the fire-god and the priest of the gods who carries the offering — the deity with the second-largest number of Rigvedic hymns after Indra. No Vedic text makes the assemblies his daughters.
• (c)Varun — Varuna is the upholder of rita, the cosmic and moral order, and the punisher of falsehood — a tempting pick for anything to do with law and order, but the 'two daughters' image belongs to Prajapati.
• (d)Rudra — Rudra is the fierce storm-and-healing deity, the Vedic precursor of Shiva (praised in the Yajurveda's Shatarudriya). He has no connection with the Sabha or the Samiti.

The Sabha and the Samiti were the two assemblies of the Vedic tribal polity, and Vedic literature personifies them as divine sisters — the Atharvaveda calls them the two daughters of Prajapati. The Samiti was the wider assembly of the whole people (vish), where public and political matters were discussed and where the raja's acceptance was registered; the Sabha was the smaller, more select body of elders and prominent men, which also handled judicial business and met in a hall of its own. Both had real weight in the early Vedic period and both lost ground in the later Vedic age as kingship became hereditary, territorial and ritually magnified.

Questions in this area are testing one of three anchors — which text (Atharvaveda), which deity (Prajapati), or which assembly did what. The trap is to assume that anything about Vedic polity must come from the Rigveda, and to reach for Varuna because he is the god of order. The safe chain to memorise is: Atharvaveda → Sabha and Samiti → two daughters of Prajapati.

• The Atharvaveda (Book VII, hymn 12) calls Sabha and Samiti the two daughters of Prajapati and prays that both be favourable to the speaker
• Samiti — the larger assembly of the whole people (vish), associated with the acceptance/selection of the raja; Sabha — the smaller, select body of elders, with judicial functions as well
• Vidatha is the assembly named most often in the Rigveda and is usually treated as the oldest of the Vedic assemblies; it disappears in the later Vedic period
• Prajapati, the creator 'lord of creatures', is a later Vedic deity who overshadows the Rigvedic Indra and Varuna in the Brahmana literature
• Both assemblies decline in the later Vedic age as the raja's power grows and is dramatised through the rajasuya, vajapeya and ashvamedha sacrifices

• Assuming every fact about Vedic political life comes from the Rigveda — this image is from the Atharvaveda
• Swapping the two bodies: Samiti is the wider popular assembly, Sabha the smaller select one
• Picking Varuna because he is the guardian of order and law

MPPSC asks the crisp identification — which Veda, which deity, which assembly is older. UPSC prefers the functional form — which body was concerned with the king, which assembly is Vidatha. Learn the pairing Atharvaveda ↔ Sabha & Samiti ↔ daughters of Prajapati, and separately learn what each assembly did.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which assembly is mentioned most frequently in the Rigveda and is regarded as the oldest of the Vedic assemblies?

  • (a)Sabha
  • (b)Samiti
  • (c)Vidatha
  • (d)Gana

  Answer(c) Vidatha — the assembly named most often in the Rigveda, with military, religious and social functions; it disappears in the later Vedic period.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following statements about the Vedic assemblies is correct?

  • (a)The Samiti was the larger assembly of the whole people (vish)
  • (b)The Sabha was open to the entire tribe while the Samiti was a small body of elders
  • (c)Vidatha is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda
  • (d)Both Sabha and Samiti grew stronger through the later Vedic period

  Answer(a) The Samiti was the larger assembly of the whole people (vish) — the Sabha was the smaller select body, and both weakened as later Vedic kingship strengthened.