Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c13.44

c13.44

§ 36. Pāṇini's A n d h a k a - V ṛ i s h ṇ i s have to be noted separately. They, in the Purāṇas, are identical with the Sātvats. The Sātvats, according to the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, had the *Bhaujya* Constitution, and their rulers were called *Bhojas*.⁸ In the Mahā-Bhārata, the Andhaka rulers are called *Bhojas*, and a subdivision of the Yādavas itself is latterly called Bhojas.¹ The fact that the Vṛishṇis had no rājans in their constitution, is expressed in folklore and legend in that they had been cursed not to be crowned as kings. The Mahā-Bhārata, in Sabhā-Parvan (xxxvii. 5), says that the Daśārṇas (Vṛishṇis) were 'kingless.' That they were a Saṁgha, is attested by Kauṭilya who mentions the Vṛishṇi Saṁgha as having come to grief by offending Dvaipāyana in olden days.² The Mahā-Bhārata gives an 'ancient' discourse on the Andhaka-Vṛishṇi Saṁgha.³ That they had no republican 'rājan,' is proved by their coin which, in the scripts of the first century B.C., is struck in the name of their *Gaṇa*.⁴