Write about the major republics located in Uttar Pradesh and their political system in the 6th century B.C.

Major ganas on UP soil

• The Shakyas of Kapilavastu had their heartland on the UP–Nepal edge; Piprahwa in today’s Siddharthnagar district is the principal Uttar Pradesh find-spot linked to that sangha.
• The Mallas held Kushinara, now Kushinagar, and Pava; the Buddha’s last days and the sharing of relics make this a clearly located republic in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
• Smaller neighbour ganas of the same belt—Koliyas of Ramagrama and Moriyas of Pippalivana—sat on the same tarai corridor, though their capitals are thinner in the archaeology.
• Kosala at Shravasti, Kashi at Varanasi, and Vatsa at Kaushambi were monarchies; they must not be listed as republics.

Political system of the gana-sangha

• Power sat in a kshatriya clan assembly, not in a single hereditary raja of the Kosalan type; the ganamukhya was a first among equals who spoke for the parishad.
• War, peace, and exile were debated in the santhagara; Buddhist texts praise frequent assembly and concord, and they mention salaka voting in sangha procedure.
• There was no wide citizen franchise: landholding kshatriyas ruled; dasa, craftsmen, and subject villages did not sit in the hall.
• These ganas were later squeezed by Magadha and Kosala, which is why the sixth-century map of eastern UP is a short-lived republican belt beside large kingdoms.