Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c13.50

c13.50

§ 37. The Vṛishṇi coin has a peculiarity which distinguishes it from the coins of other republics. Coins of republics where there was no 'king'-consul, were struck in the name of the Gaṇa,⁵ *e.g.*, "Victory to the Gaṇa of the Ārjunāyanas," "Of the Mālava-Gaṇa," "Victory of the Yaudheya-Gaṇa." There is one exception to this in the case of one type of the Yaudheya coins which is struck both in the name of the Executive Council (*Mantra-dharas*) and the Gāṇa.⁶ The Vṛishṇi coin resembles none of these varieties. It is struck in the name of the *Rājanya* and *Gaṇa*⁷ of the Vṛishṇis: "*Vṛishṇi-rājaññā-gaṇasya.*" The constitutional significance of the word, *Rājanya*, has to be ascertained. There is evidence to hold that in the case of the Vrishṇis it had a definite constitutional meaning. Let us examine it.