A sabhā in

Ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

was an assembly, congregation, or council. Personified as a deity, Sabhā is a daughter of Prajapati in the Atharvaveda. The term has also given rise to modern terms of

Parliament of India The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

, such as

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

(Lower House) and

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

(Upper House), and the Indian states' Legislative Assembly,

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

. In

Epic Sanskrit Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called ''Kavya'' (or ''Kāvya''; Sanskrit: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá''). The ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'', which were originally composed in ...

, the term refers also to an assembly hall or council-chamber, and to a hostel, eating-house, or gambling-house. The ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

'', Book 2, has a ''Sabha Parva'' or Sabha episode, which describes the sabha under King

Yudhishthira ''Yudhishthira'' (Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: ''Yudhiṣṭhira'') is the eldest among the five Pandava brothers. He is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata. He was sired by King Pandu of the Kuru Dynasty and his firs ...

.Mahabharata, Book 2, ''Sabha Parva''
''

'' sacred-texts.com. Monier-Williams compares the word to

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''sibb'' "clan" (Old High German ''sippa''), in Modern English surviving in the term ''

gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

'' (from ''god-sib''). A Sabha in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, popularly refers to a body or organization involved in the promotion of fine arts such as Saastriya Sangeetham,

Bharathanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

, Drama among numerous other arts. These Sabhas are concentrated at a place called as ylaporein Chennai and are instrumental in ensuring the connoisseurs (known as Rasikaas) from all parts of the world treated with variety during the Music and Dance Season of Maargazhi (December / January mostly). Sabha ( ne, सभा) in nepali meaning assembly, meeting or gathering of people. For example: * Pratinidhi Sabha = House of Representatives (lower house) of National Parliament of Nepal * Rastriya Sabha = National Assembly (upper house) of National Assembly of Nepal * Pradesh Sabha = Provincial Assemblies of Nepal * Jansabha = Gathering of people

References

Ancient India Hindi words and phrases {{India-hist-stub