India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s5.2

c8.s5.2

Pāṇini is acquainted with a number of *Janapadas* or States. To start with, a wandering *Jana* which was a Kshattriya clan, settled down in a particular region (*Jana-pada*), which came to be named after it. In time, other peoples also came to settle in it, whence arose the conception of a common citizenship binding them to the *Janapada*. It marked the evolution from the racial (*Jana*) to the territorial (*Janapada*) basis of citizenship embracing a variety of peoples. The citizens bound in loyalty to a common *Janapada* were called *Sajanapadas* (VI.3.85), nationals of the same State. The Vedic Bharata *Jana*, for instance, became settled in the region called Bharata, where were also settled later on other people giving rise to the territorial conception of citizenship replacing the clan. Thus it marked a great progress in political evolution.