India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s5.6

c12.s5.6

*KULA*—The phrase *Gaṇa-rājakula* used in connection with the *Saṅgha* of the Vṛijis shows that the political *Saṅgha* called *Gaṇa* was composed of various *rājakulas* or royal families and that the heads of these *rājakulas* constituted the governing body of that *Gaṇa*. This is confirmed by the *Mahābhārata* which says that the members of a *Gaṇa* were equals of one another in respect of birth and family (*Jātyā cha sadṛiśaḥ sarve kulena sadṛiśas-tathā*, Śāntiparva, 107.30). Kauṭilya also states that *kula* was the unit of a *Saṅgha*.