India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.s1.t1.3

c13.s1.t1.3

*ABHIJANA*—We can now see why in the whole of the Vedic literature there is no reference to the *Janapada* institution, whereas the *Jana* finds repeated mention. The Bharata *Jana* tracing itself to a common ancestor was a compact clan. It must have expanded and the outcome was the increasing importance of independent families or *Kulas*, which ultimately developed into *Gotras* and *Vaṁśas*. The clan was not yet settled in any particular area, but with the growth of independent families it tended to lose its mobility and ultimately the tribe or *Jana* came to be tied down to an abode, called *Abhijana* in Pāṇini (IV.3.90), literally 'the region that had come under the "land-taking" of a *Jana*'.