Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s3.117

c12.s3.117

The other institution that occurs in our ancient literature is the *āyudajīvisaṃgha*, a body of professional soldiers.⁵ It cannot be said with any definiteness that this denotes a non-monarchical state, or for the matter of that a military republic. It may be that the *Yaudheyas* might have formed themselves an independent organization, wherein every member was obliged to live by arms. The spirit of common will and solidarity of purpose actuated and guided every local association. Every local body was a deliberative and administrative assembly and was therefore of the nature of a group and not of a crowd. A crowd is a party, or in other words a party government leads on to a crowd organization.⁶ The party organizations in modern democracies are felt to be an evil but a necessary evil. Organizations of the type of *pūga* avoided this and introduced a healthy spirit among the groups.