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Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c12: Chapter IV: Rise of Hindu Republics and Hindu Terms for Republics

Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c12

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English

Chapter IV: Rise of Hindu Republics and Hindu Terms for Republics

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§ 18. Hindu Republics are another illustration of the communal self-governing habits of the post-Vedic age, referred to in our last paragraph. The early Vedas know only monarchy. Departure from this normal constitution was made in post-Vedic times, and, as Megasthenes also records the tradition, '*sovereignty* (kingship) *was 'dissolved and democratic governments set up' in various places.*¹ The Mahā-Bhārata, similary, as we shall see in our discussion on Hindu Monarchy, considers monarchy alone as the Vedic form of government The hymns of the Ṛik and Atharvan, the view of the Mahā-Bhārata and the tradition which Megasthenes heard in India in the fourth century B.C., all point to the fact that republican form of government in India came long after monarchy,∗ and after the early Vedic age. It appears in the later Vedic literature: in the Ṛigvedic Brāhmaṇa the Aitareya, and in the Yajurveda and its Brāhmaṇa the Taittirīya. The republican constitutions mentioned in these documents will be discussed, for the sake of convenience and clearness, after the better known cases of later history.

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¹ Epitome of Megasthenes, Diod II. 38; Mc Crindle, *Megasthenes*, pp. 38, 40.

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∗ See Ch. X below.

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The account of Hindu States of non-kingly forms of government presents a great chapter in the constitutional history of the race. We will therefore pay particular attention to it in these studies.

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§ 19. Prof. Rhys Davids, in his *Buddhist India*, showed that republican form of government obtained in the country of the Buddha and his neighbours. But it had not been pointed out that our-literature preserves technical names for Hindu Republics. One of these terms which first attracted my attention was the word Gaṇa. In the *Āchārāṅga Sūtra* of the Jaina branch of Hindu literature, I came across the terms Do-rajjāṇi and Gaṇa-rāyāṇi (II 3.1.10)¹ which struck me as defining constitutions. Do-rajjāṇi were states ruled by two rulers; similarly, Gaṇa-rāyāṇi would be states where Gaṇa or 'numbers' ruled. In other places, I found the word gaṇa alone standing for a gaṇa-state. Further enquiry supplied evidence to confirm my belief that Gaṇa denoted a republic and that its interpretation as then current ('tribe,' by Fleet and others; 'corporation of tradesmen or 'workmen,' by Bühler) was wrong. I futher noticed that Saṃgha was another term in the same sense. Some of the data on which my conclusions were based were set forth in the original essay published under the title of the present work² Now I am in possession of new materials which throw further light on the significance of the two terms.

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¹ १ अयरायाणि वा गणरायाणि वा जुवरायाणि वा दोरज्जाणि वा वेरज्जाणि वा विरुद्धरज्जाणि वा— See on the significance of these terms *infra* §§ 100-101. Gaṇa-rājya is given by Varāha-mihira also. Br. S, IV. 14.

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² *The Modern Review*, Calcutta, 1913.

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§ 20. It is necessary to ascertain what was exactly meant by gaṇa. It means 'numbers': *gaṇa-rājya* will therefore mean the rule of 'numbers,' 'the rule by many' Here the Buddhist Canon comes to our assistance. The Buddha was asked as to how the number of the monks was to be made out:— "At that time the people asked the Bhikkhus who went about for alms: 'How many Bhikkhus are there, Reverend Sirs?' "The Bhikkhus replied, 'We do not know, friends!' "The people were annoyed... They told this thing to the 'Blessed One.'" The Buddha prescribed that the brethren should be counted on the Uposatha day by the system employed in a gaṇa or by collecting voting tickets: "I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, that you count (the Bhikkhus) on 'the day of Uposatha by the method of gaṇa (gaṇa-maggena gaṇetum) or that you take the voting tickets (salākā)."

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The Bhikkhus were to be counted in an assembly by the method of counting votes as done in a gaṇa, or by the method of ballot-voting¹ where tickets were collected. In this connexion let us also take the term *gaṇa-pūraka* of the Pali Canon.² The *gaṇa-pūraka* was an officer who saw whether the lawful quorum of the assembly was formed before it transacted official business. It literally means "the Completer of the Gaṇa." *Gaṇa* thus was the *assembly* or *parliament*, so called because of the 'number' or 'numbering' of the members present. *Gaṇa-rājya*, consequently, denoted *government by assembly or parliament*. The secondary meaning of *Gaṇa* came to be 'parliament' or 'senate,' and as republics were governed by them, *gaṇa* came to mean a republic itself.

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¹ *Mahāvagga*, II, 18. See Translation by Rhys Davids and Oldenburg in S.B.E., XIII, p. 269.

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² See *infra*, Ch. XI, on *Procedure of Deliberations*.

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§ 21. Pāṇini, dealing with the formation of the word *saṁgha*, in III. 3. 86 (संघोद्धौ गणप्रशंंसयो:।) says that the word *saṃgha* (as against the regular *saṃghāta*,¹ derived from *han*, III 3. 76) is in the meaning of *gaṇa*. When Pāṇini has occasion to mention individual *Saṃghas*, he names communities which are known from monumental and other evidence to have been republican.² In his time *Saṃgha* denoted *Gaṇa*, and the **religious** Saṃgha does not appear to have come into prominence. In fact, as we shall see, the latter was a copy of the **political** Saṃgha. Known republican bodies are called by Kauṭilya *Saṃghas*.³ There is thus not much room to doubt that Saṃgha originally meant a republic. The most ancient work of the Buddhist, the Pāli Piṭaka, itself confirms this. The Majjhima Nikāya (I. 4. 5. 35) uses the terms *saṃgha* and *gaṇa* side by side, taking them to mean, without the fear of least confusion, the republics of the time of the Buddha: ‘*imesaṃ pi hi bho Gotama saṃghānaṃ, ‘gaṇānaṃ seyyathīdaṃ Vajjinaṃ Mallānaṃ*’ “and “this is so, O Gotama, in respect of the Saṃghas, “Gaṇas, for instance, the Vajjis, Mallas.” Thus *saṃgha* and also *gaṇa*, which are used here as in Pāṇini, synonymously, signified, *par excellence*, the republics. The republics were *the saṃghas and the gaṇas* at the time. Their secondary use, adoption by religious communities of the time, was just taking shape.⁴

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³ गणपूरको वा भविस्सामीति, *Mahāvagga*, III, 6, 6; Cf. S.B.E., Vol. XIII, p. 307.

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¹ संघोद्वाधौः किम्। संघातः। Kāśikā, p. 214 (Benares, 1898).

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² See below, c. vii.

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³ See the use of *saṃgha* and *gaṇa* in MN. 1. 4. 5, and also here § below 23, n.

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⁴ संघनने कृत्रः, on Pāṇini, V. 1. 59; Kielhorn, II, p. 356 (2nd Ed.)

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The term *gaṇa* signified the form of *government*. *Saṃgha*, on the other hand, signified the *state*. As Patañjali says, *Saṃgha* is so called because it is one body, a unity (*saṃghanana*).⁵ As we shall see presently, the *Saṃgha*, as a unit, a *body politic*, had its ‘arms’⁶ like a king or a corporation aggregate.

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⁵ See infra § 41.

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§ 22. A wrong value to *gaṇa* has been assigned in the Dictionary of Monier-Williams which has misled many modern students of Sanskrit literature. Monier-Williams translated the word by the English word *tribe*. This meaning was adopted by the late Dr. Fleet in his translation of the Gupta Inscriptions in connexion with the *Mālava-gaṇa* of those records. When my interpretation was published, Dr F W Thomas, the foremost Indianist scholar in England, pointed out that the 'tribe' meaning was to be given up. And when Dr Fleet insisted on the correctness of his rendering—'tribe'—Dr Thomas challenged him to show that meaning from Sanskrit literature. Dr. Fleet found no authority except that of modern English translations of the Raghuvamśa and the Mahā-Bhārata. Dr Thomas drew attention to the fact that the St. Petersburg Dictionary and some later Dictionaries never authorised and accepted the 'tribe' interpretation.¹ Further data collected by me on the point leave no room for controversy.

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¹ *J. R. A. S.* 1914, pp. 413; 1010; 1915, p. 533; 1916, p. 162.

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§ 23. Pāṇini, as we have seen, equates *gaṇa* with *saṁgha*. No one would say that the word *saṁgha* can in any way be connected with 'tribe' there. Again, new *gaṇas* were founded.² Would that mean that *new* 'tribes' were founded? Such a meaning would hardly deserve consideration

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² See *infra*, Ch. xv. See Sāmaññaphala Sutta (§§ 2—7); where Teachers, as founders of new schools, are called "Saṁghī cheva gaṇī cha,"—'Founder of Saṁgha and Founder of gaṇa.' This also displaces the 'tribe' theory.

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§ 24. The *Jātakas*, vols. I and II, have two passages which help us considerably in appraising the value of *gaṇa*. They describe how families in Śrāvastī managed to entertain the Bhikkhus of the Buddha's Order. Some households combined into threes and fours, in some cases the whole quarter combined together, and jointly provided for the feasts of the Bhikkhus, while in some cases 'many' pepople managed the entertainment by 'combining' according to the '*gana-binding*' (*gana-bandhana*).¹ Here the real sense of *gana* becomes apparent: *assembly* or *association*. The word *bandhana* (the *binding*, Ger. '*bund*') shows the artificial nature of the *gana*-organization, as opposed to the tribal and primitive.

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¹ Jātaka, I. 422: Kadāchi tīṇi-chattāri ekato hutvā, kadāchi gaṇa-bandhanena, kadāchi vīthi-sabhāgena, kadāchi sakala-nagaram chhandakam samharitvā. Jātaka, II. 45, gaṇa-bandhanena bahū ekato hutvā.

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§ 25 The best discussion on the subject is Ch. 107 of the Śānti-Parvan of the Mahā-Bhārata, which tells us in the clearest possible terms what gaṇa was. I give the whole chapter with translation in chapter XIV below. Gaṇas were noted according to that, for their successful foreign policy, for their full treasury, for their ready army, for their skill in war, for their good laws, for their discipline. Mantra or policy of state and the discussion of that policy by the large number of the gaṇa are alluded to. These characteristics, among others, cannot refer to a tribe as such or to a corporation of traders; they refer to gaṇa as an organization of assembly-government or republic. Its general meaning is assembly² and technical, assembly-government or a republic.

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² In that meaning it is used also in the Divyāvadāna which calls the body of ministers the *gana* of ministers, pp. 404, 429.

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In the time of the legal commentators, gaṇas as political institutions had long ceased to exist. But the commentators never fell into the error of taking them as 'tribes.' They treat them as artifical associations or assemblies, *e.g.*, take the view cited by Dr. Jolly in his translation of Nārada (S. B. E., xxxiii, p. 6, n.), "gaṇa, an assembly of co-habitants."³ Dr. Jolly, in fact, translates gaṇa in verse 7 of Nārada as 'assembly,' and *gaṇārtham* as 'on behalf of Society.' Though it is not strictly the technical sense of Nārada, yet it is very near the original sense and it follows the spirit.

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³ Cf. Jagannātha, "आदिशब्दात् समसंख्यादिः समूहनिवास्यवा," Jolly, Nārada-Smṛiti (text), p. 163 n. Nīlakaṇṭha in his *Vyavahāra-Mayūkha* (Ch. on Saṁvid-vyatikrama), equates gaṇa with Samgha.

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Amara an author of the early Gupta time (very probably, under Chandra Gupta *Vikramāditya*) explains in his lexicon the constitutional terms Rājaka and Rājanyaka as a gaṇa of kings and a gaṇa of Kshatriyas (ordinary rulers) respectively (. . . चय राजकम्। राजन्यकं च नृपतिक्रियाणां गणे क्रमात्। II. 8. xi. 3—4).

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§ 26 In the *Avadāna-Śataka*, gaṇa-rule is opposed to royal rule. Merchants from the Middle Country of Northern India had gone to the Deccan in the time of the Buddha. When questioned by the King of the Deccan, 'Gentlemen Merchants, who is the king there (in Northern India)?,' they replied:

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"Your Majesty, some countries are under gaṇa and some are under kings"³

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³ Ed. Speyer, Petrograd, 1902, II, p. 103 "केचद् मध्यदेशाद्वणिजो दक्षिणापथं गताः। तैः राज्ञो महाकाप्पिणस्य प्राभृतमुपनीतम्। राजा पृच्छ' भो वणिकः कस्तत्र राजेति। वणिजः कथयन्ति। देव केचिद्देशा गणाधीनाः केचिद्राजाधीना इति।" I am thankful to Mr. Ramaprasad Chanda for this reference.

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Here the royal form of government is contrasted with the *gaṇa*-form; these were the two divisions. And the only form of government which can be contra-distinguished from the royal is republican.

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§ 27. A Jaina text in explaining gaṇa says that with reference to human society gaṇa is a group with the main characteristic of 'possessing a mind,' of being conscious. According to the text there is also an abuse of the term. The examples given of its right use are: 'the gaṇa of the Mallas (a known republican community, as we shall presently see¹) and 'the gaṇa of the Pura,' *i.e.*, the Pura assembly (see below, ch. xxviii, on the Paura). As an example of its abuse, the gaṇa of Vasus (Vasu gods) is given by the commentator. Its non-social use is pointed out in music (*bhāva-gaṇa*). Non-constitutional gaṇas, according to the commentary, lack mentality or purpose [in making up the group],² *e.g.*, 'Vasugaṇa' (the Vasu gods).² In other words, the application of the word to a non-constitutional body is distinguished. The constitutional *gaṇa* is the real *gaṇa*, and in the eye of the Jaina authority, it has a mind: it is an organised conscious body of men like the political assembly of the Mallas or the assembly of the corporate Paura. It is a corporate assembly, as opposed to a mere multitude or chance collection.

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² S. B. E., XXXIII, p. 349, verse 24.

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¹ See ch. vii, below.

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² सचित्तादि समुहो लोगंसि गणी य मल्लपुरादि । कुलावयवम्मि जीवरह चौसठ्ठीभागं ॥—Text quoted in the Jaina Prākrita Encyclopædia, *Abhidhāna-Rājendra* (Rutlam, 1919), Vol. III, p. 812, comments : सचित्तसमूहो यथा मल्लगणः . . . . . अचित्तसमूहो यथा वसुगणः कुलवयवे दव्वगणी तथा चरकादिगणः । चरकः परिब्राजकः (p. 814). Cf. on सचित्त Pāṇini, IV. 2.47 ; and IV, 3. 96 where political loyalty is implied to be स-चित्त, 'with mentality,' 'thought' ; and also infra § 118 and nt.

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§ 28. This passage, along with the discourse in the Mahābhārata on Gaṇas, the Jātaka and the Avadāna references, and Pāṇini's equation of saṁgha with gaṇa leave no doubt as to the real significance of gaṇa.

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Now we may pass on from the terms to the republics themselves.

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