Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c12.27

c12.27

§ 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.