Corporate Life in Ancient India c7.65

c7.65

The root-meaning of the word ‘कुल’ is a group, a multitude, a community.¹ According to this interpretation therefore ‘गण’ would mean a federation of different groups or communities. This is fully in keeping with the view I have put forward above about the constitution of the supreme assembly of the Lichchhavis, on the basis of the Jātaka stories. It would follow then that each of these communities was a state in miniature with a completè staff of officials, while the supreme assembly administering over the whole state consisted of the heads of these communities. It may be noted that Mahāvagga (V. 1) preserves, in connection with the kingdom of Magadha, an instance of a central assembly consisting of the heads of the smallest administrative units of the kingdom. The assembly was held during the reign of Bimbisāra, the very period to which the constitution of the Lichchhavis under discussion is to be referred.