[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) › c40.64 # Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40.64 Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40.64 - **Language:** English ### [c40.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.64) Pura meant the Capital (§ 253). Samūha is a well-known constitutional term in Hindu Law. Kātyāyana, for instance, defines pūga, which according to the accepted interpretation means a 'guild', as the 'samūha of merchants and others.'² Brihaspati, the lawyer, describes bodies already known to us to have been assembly-ruled organisations,³ \*e. g.\*, pūga, gaṇa, saṃgha, as samūhastha vargas (§258) or 'bodies incorporated'.⁴ Mitra-miśra quotes a text based upon Bhrigu which calls grāma, paura, gaṇa, and śreṇi, 'vargins' \*i.e.\* what Brihaspati has as 'samūhastha vargas'⁵ \[grāma here is not the village but the Village-Association as Chaṇḍeśvara the lawyer of Mithilā defines: Grāmo grāma-vāsi-samūhaḥ, p. 179\]. Chaṇḍeśvara explains samūhasthāḥ by 'militāḥ', 'combined.'⁶ Kātyāyana speaks of separate laws of the samūhas.⁷ Samūha which ordinarily means a collection has, thus, a technical, constitutional sense—an organized body.⁸ - [Previous: c40.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.63) - [Next: c40.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.65) - [Up: c40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40) ## Cites (3) - [Bhṛgusaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.rsi.bhrgusamhita) — Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Bṛhaspatismṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.uddhrta.brhaspati) — Bṛhaspati, Sanskrit - [Kātyāyanasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.uddhrta.katyayana) — Kātyāyana (smṛtikāra), Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.64) · Pramāṇa