Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c12.10

c12.10

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.