Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40.28

c40.28

§ 250. The plural *jānapadāḥ* may equally denote '*the members of the jānapada-institution*' as well as '*the people of janapada.*' The plural form does not exclude the institutional significance. That there was such a body can be established if we find the term used in the singular, not in the sense of one man but in the collective sense, or if we find the plural *jānapadāḥ* in a collective sense. We have instances of both these uses. Moreover, we have evidence of the fact that *jānapadas* as bodies corporate had their own laws and those laws were recognised by the Dharma-Śāstras.