Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c26.46

c26.46

The Sūdra republic is evidently the same whom Alexander met in Lower Sind and whom we have identified¹ with the Brahminical Śaudras or *Śaudrāyaṇas* of the Gaṇapāṭha. According to grammar it was based on the proper-name (of a man) *Sūdra*, not the caste name. The Five *Karpaṭas* and neighbours of the Utsavasaṅketas may have been republican although they are not described as such in the Mahā-Bhārata. Samudra Gupta² places the Ābhīras next to the Mādrakas, and the Kharaparikas also in the same group, i.e., the group of non-monarchical communities. Probably these Kharaparikas or Kharaparas are identical with the Five Karpaṭas of the Mahā-Bhārata. The Utsava-Saṅketas were republican, probably founded by two men Utsava and Saṅketa. We may, however, point out that saṅketa is a technical term denoting an act or resolution passed by a republic (सङ्केतः समयक्रिया),³ and it is just possible that 'saṅketa' here originally denoted a state 'founded' by a resolution of the Utsavas. The Utsava-saṅketas are located in the Mahā-Bhārata near Pushkara or Ajmer. They do not seem to come down to the time of the Guptas. Not only they are not mentioned in the Gupta records, they are treated as a semi-mythological people of the Himalayas by the Gupta poet, Kālidāsa. This would show that Utsava-saṅketas had long ceased to exist. The Mahā-Bhārata in the same passage mentions 'very powerful town-rulers' on the banks of the Indus.¹ They evidently are the city republics on the Indus as they had existed in the time of Alexander.