State and Government in Ancient India c13.106

c13.106

Normally the republican government was a government by parties. We have already explained above how they came into existence. The party system was so common among the republics, that it is referred to even by the grammarians. The term *dvandva* was used to denote the rival parties and the term *vyutkramaṇa* to their rivalry.² As in modern parliaments, members of the parties sat in separate groups.³ *Vargya*, *grihya* and *pakshya* were the technical terms used to denote party members. Parties were usually named after their leaders; *Vāsudeva-vargya* was the name to denote a member of the party of Vāsudeva or Kṛishṇa, *Akrūrapakshya*, a member of Akrūra party, and so on.