Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c23.2

c23.2

§ 125. Confining our attention to the period of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., we not only find the Buddhists but also the Jainas founding religious corporations in the very terms of politics. The Jaina-sūtras show individuals founding new gaṇas and Kulas which sometimes take the name of the founder and sometimes that of the place, e.g., *Godāsa*, *Gaṇa* founded by Godāsa, the *Uttara Valissaha Gaṇa*, founded by Uttara and Valissaha conjointly, the *Uddeha Gaṇa* founded by Rohaṇa, the *Indrapūraka kula* founded by Karmardhi.¹ Likewise we know of schisms in the Buddhist Saṁgha, and we know also of the formation of new Saṁghas. The phenomenon of new foundations is not confined to the history of our religious 'republics.' The Mahā-Bhārata points out the great danger of disunion and schisms in republics. The authors of the Mahā-Bhārata were probably aware of such political breaches. The two Mallas² and the two Madras were probably results of this propensity.