Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c12.25

c12.25

§ 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.