[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924) › c18.4 # Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c18.4 Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c18.4 - **Language:** English ### [c18.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c18.4) § 91. The Bhaujya constitution is noticed by the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.¹ We get some light on this constitution from an unexpected quarter. The Pāli Canon² enumerates careers open to a \*Kulaputta\*. Amongst these, next to the king-consul, we have \*Raṭṭhika\* and \*Pettanika\*. Aśoka in his inscriptions, equates Bhoja with Raṭhika or Rāshṭrika.³ The commentary on the Aṅguttara Nikāya explains the Pettanika as being hereditary leadership (Sāpateyya), come down from forefathers.¹ The Rāshtrikas and Bhojakas or Bhojas as opposed to Pettanikas apparently meant non-hereditary leadership. \*Sāpateyyam\* ('together-leadership') suggests that in each case there were more than one leader. The Mahā-Bhārata also in its list of different classes of rulers mentions Bhoja as a class (\*Sānti.\* Ch. lxvii. Śl. 54).² To this interpretation I am also led by Khāravela's inscription which describes the \*Rāshtrikas\* and the \*Bhojakas\* with paraphernalia of sovereignty.³ Later inscriptions have Bhojas and Mahā-Bhojas which signify higher and ordinary classes of leaders. Sovereignty rested in the Bhoja leaders. The constitution itself was called \*Bhaujya\* as in the Aitareya. It is note-worthy that the \*Bhojas\*, so-called after their rulers, appear in later literature as a sub-division of the Yādavas whose earlier history we find as a league of two republics, called the \*Andhaka-Vrishṇis\* (§§ 36-40). Now according to the Aitareya the Satvats, which is the ancient name for the Yādavas, were one of the peoples who observed the Bhaujya constitution. - [Previous: c18.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c18.3) - [Next: c18.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c18.5) - [Up: c18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c18) ## Cites (3) - [Aitareyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya) — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Aṅguttaranikāya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.anguttara) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c18.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c18.4) · Pramāṇa