Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c15.25

c15.25

§ 56. The K s h u d r a k a s and the M ā l a v a s, who were the most prominent amongst these martial republics, are not mentioned by Kauṭilya. Probably they had already come under the imperial sway. The martial republics named in the Arthaśāstra are headed by the K ā m b h o j a s. They were in eastern Afghanistan. They are mentioned in Aśoka's inscriptions as a community next to the G a n d h ā r a s.² According to Yāska, their mother-tongue was Sanskrit with certain bases which seem to have been imported from the Iranian neighbours.³ They are known to Pāṇini for he gives a rule⁴ for the derivative to denote their king. This would indicate that Pāṇini is referring to a monarchy. But the special rule and the exceptional form of the derivative raise a doubt as to whether the ‘rā jā’ of the Kāmbojas was a monarch or a consul. In the time of Kauṭilya, their constitution certainly did not admit of even a titular ‘king.’ The Bhojas, as we shall see hereafter, were a class of non-monarchical rulers: ‘Kambhojas would literally mean ‘Inferior Bhojas.’¹