[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) › c40.18 # Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40.18 Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40.18 - **Language:** English ### [c40.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.18) The division of a kingdom in the period between 600 B. C. and 600 A. C. is made into 'the capital' and 'the country'.¹ The former is designated \*Pura\*² or \*Nagara\*³ (the City) and occasionally \*Durga\*⁴ (the Fort), and the latter is called \*Janapada\*, with synonyms in \*Rāshtra\* and \*Deśa\*. The expression \*Jānapada\*, a derivative from \*janapada\*, we find occurring in the Pāli Canon, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahā-Bhārata and other books, and in inscriptions. In our day, it has been taken to mean an inhabitant of \*janapada\*. Its use as a technical term has been missed. This is due to the fact that the term is generally found in the plural e. g. \*jānapadāḥ\* (जानपदाः) which has been translated as 'the people of the \*Janapada\*.' Modern writers have further made the mistake of regarding \*Janapada\* as a province which is against all ancient authority. It really means the whole area of a kingdom, minus the capital constitutionally.⁵ The technical significance of the \*Jānapada\* as a collective institution has now been established by Khāravela's inscription of c. 165 B. C.⁶ Mediæval commentators not knowing that there was a collective institution \*Jānapada\*, 'corrected' the singular form into the plural \*Jānapadāḥ\*. A very good example of this is verse 54 (ch. XIV) of the Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa of the Rāmāyaṇa.¹ King Daśaratha is sought to be intimated: "The Paura, the Jānapada, and "the Naigama are present respectfully waiting for Rāma's "consecration (as Crown-Prince)". The verb \*upatiṣṭhati\* (\*'is waiting'\*) is in the singular and this requires the subjects in each case joined on by \*cha\* ('and', 'as well as') to be in the singular. But in the text only the \*Naigama\* (corporate association of guild-merchants of the capital) is kept in the singular and the word \*Jānapada\* has been altered into a plural nominative and plural instrumental.² The instrumental form is resorted to for a forced grammatical justification ('the Jānapadas \*with\* the Naigama'). The correct reading, in the nominative singular, \*Jānapadaścha\*, is still found in some MSS. But it is rejected by modern editors as incorrect.³ - [Previous: c40.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.17) - [Next: c40.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.19) - [Up: c40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.18) · Pramāṇa