[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 # Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40: Chapter XXVII: The Janapada or the Realm Assembly and The Paura or the Assembly of the Capital City (600 B. C. to 600 A. C.) Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c40 - **Language:** English ### Chapter XXVII: The Janapada or the Realm Assembly and The Paura or the Assembly of the Capital City (600 B. C. to 600 A. C.) ### [c40.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.1) The Janapada or the Realm Assembly ### [c40.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.2) and ### [c40.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.3) The Paura or the Assembly of the Capital City : ### [c40.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.5) § 247. Just about the time of the rise of large monarchies we find developed a popular institution of great constitutional importance. The period succeeding the Vedic, from the Mahā-Bhārata War down to the end of the Brihadrathas (700 B. C.)¹—is characterised by states which were co-extensive with their respective nations and lands inhabited by them. We may call that period, the epoch of National States and National Monarchies. The Bharatas,² and Pañchālas,³ for instance, had their own national kings; and so had the Videhas; the nation called Aikshvākas⁴ (Aita. Br. to Patañjali) had their own king. Earlier than 600 B. C. we find a tendency in Indian states to develop what we may call non-national, territorial Monarchies. The national basis begins to give way to a propensity for encroachment by one national unit upon others, and of amalgamation. Large states arise which are no more national but merely territorial units. We find for instance the old Aikshvāka- \*janapada\* transforming itself into \*Kāśi-Kosala\*,¹ and the Magadha-state comprised of the territories of Magadha and Aṅga.² The process develops very rapidly between 550 B. C. and 300 B. C. The ground for this had already been prepared philosophically. The Buddha, though a born republican, was ambitious to found a one-state empire of his religion.³ The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa had preached for an empire extending up to the sea. The Jātakas are full of the ideal of an All-India Empire (Sakala-Jambudīpe-eka-rajjaṁ). ### [c40.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.6) ¹ Jayaswal, \*J. B. O. R. S.\*, Vol. IV, pp. 16, 35; 262. ### [c40.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.7) ² Cf. Taittirīya Samhitā of \*Yajurveda\*, \*\*एष वो भरता राजा\*\*, I. 8. 10. ### [c40.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.8) ³ \*Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad\*, VI. 2. ### [c40.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.9) ⁴ \*Aita. Br.\*, VII. 13, 16; Patañjali on Pāṇini IV. 2. 104. ### [c40.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.10) ¹ Jaina Sūtra, 'Āchārāṅga', see above, PT. I. p. 54. \*Buddhist India\*, pp. 24-25; \*Janavasabha Sutta\* quoted by Oldenberg, \*Buddha\* (Eng. trans.) p. 407, f. n. See काशीकौशल्य as one unit in the \*Gopatha Brāhmaṇa\*, II. 9. ### [c40.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.11) ² \*Buddhist India\*, p. 24; \*Gopatha Brāhmaṇa\*, II. 9. ### [c40.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.12) ³ Probably not so much religion as philosophy. The difference between the two, as Megasthenes describes, was very slight. Aśoka certainly made it a religion and a world-religion. ### [c40.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.13) ⁴ See below, Ch. XXXVIII on Hindu Imperial Systems. ### [c40.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.14) § 248. In the period of large monarchies or empires, country became more important than the nation (\*viśes\* or \*jana\*). In fact, the term \*janapada\*, which literally and originally meant 'the seat of the nation' and which had been secondarily employed as denoting the nation itself, lost its old significance, and came to mean what we call to-day country' without reference to the racial elements inhabiting it. In the period of large monarchies we never hear of the Samiti. This, of course, is natural. The basis of the Samiti was the national unit, and the national unit now ceased to be a factor in matters constitutional. ### [c40.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.15) ⁵ See \*Artha-Śāstra\*, p. 45, and footnote at p. 44: जनपदॊ देशः। ### [c40.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.16) ⁶ The Jātakas do not know anything about the Samiti. There were numerous occasions to mention it if the Samiti did actually exist. The Dharma Sūtras also do not give any direction, writing on the duties of king, as to his relation with the Samiti. Nor does the Mahā-Bhārata recollect it. ### [c40.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.17) § 249. We, however, hear of another institution which probably was an incarnation of the old Samiti under changed circumstances. ### [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 ### [c40.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.19) ¹ The Jātakas and Pāli Canon have \*Janapada\* and \*Nigama\*. Nigama as will be seen, is constitutionally identical with \*Nagara\*. The Artha Śāstra has Janapada and \*Durga\*; the Rāmāyaṇa, Nagara (also \*Durga\*) and \*Janapada\* (वने वत्स्याम्यहं दुर्ग रामो राजा भविष्यति) 11. 79. 12. ### [c40.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.20) ² पुरं मुख्यनगरम्। Vīramitrodaya, p. 11. ### [c40.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.21) ³ Cf. Artha-Śāstra, p. 46 f. n. नगरं राजधानी। ### [c40.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.22) ⁴ Cf. the modern \*garh\* ('fort') to denote the seat of the ruler; also German \*schloss\*. ### [c40.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.23) ⁵ \*Artha-Śāstra\*, pp. 45-6, n. ### [c40.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.24) ⁶ Jayaswal, \*J. B. O. R. S.\* (1917) III, p. 438. ### [c40.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.25) ¹ \> उपतिष्ठति रामस्य समग्रमभिषेचनम् । ### [c40.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.26) ² पौरजानपदैश्चापि नैगमश्च कृताञ्जलिः or कृतात्मभिः, variant reading in MSS. consulted in Kumbakonam edition. ### [c40.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.27) ³ See the critical edition of the Rāmāyaṇa by Messrs. Krishṇāchārya & Vyāsāchārya. I, p. 68 (MS. "छ"), which is really a valuable edition. ### [c40.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.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. ### [c40.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.29) पौरजानपदाश्चापि नैगमश्च कृताञ्जलिः ॥ II. 14. 54. ### [c40.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.30) Govindarāja in his comment on the variant उपतिष्ठतं says: वदोऽनूर्ध्वकर्मणि इत्यात्मनेपदम् । उपस्थितमित्यर्थः ।...उपतिष्ठतीति पाठान्तरम् । Four MSS. give the reading उपतिष्ठति in the Kumbakonam Edition. ### [c40.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.31) There is the unquestionable evidence afforded by the Hāthigumphā inscription of Khāravela, which says that the king granted privileges to the \*Jānapada\* (in the singular, \*Jānapadam\*). The evidence of the Rāmāyaṇa referred to above is equally important. The \*Jānapada\* was waiting for the consecration of the King-Assistant. They, the Jānapadas, according to the Rāmāyaṇa, had already come to a unanimous decision in a joint conference with the Pauras and others on the question of this proposed consecration. The resolution was: 'we desire this consecration'.¹ ### [c40.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.32) ¹ Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, ch. II., vs. 20-22. ### [c40.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.33) In the Mānava-Dharma-śāstra, the laws of caste (\*Jāti\*), of Jānapada, and guild (\*śreṇi\*) are recognized. It is undoubted that the other ### [c40.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.34) समेत्य ते मन्त्रयित्वा समतांगतबुद्धयः । ऊचुश्च मनसा ज्ञात्वा वृद्धं दशरथं नृपम् ॥ \*\*\* \*\*\* \*\*\* स रामं युवराजानमभिषिञ्चस्व पार्थिव । इच्छामो हि महाबाहुं रघुवीरं महाबलम् ॥ ### [c40.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.35) See also Daśaratha's speech in reply : ### [c40.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.36) कथं नु मयि धर्मेण पृथिवीमनुपालति । भवन्तो दृष्टुमिच्छन्ति युवराजं महाबलम् ॥ ### [c40.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.37) ² Manu, VIII. 41. ### [c40.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.38) जातिजानपदान्धर्मान्श्रेणीधर्मांश्च धर्मवित् । समीक्ष्य कुलधर्मांश्च स्वधर्मं प्रतिपादयेत् ॥ ### [c40.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.39) ³ \*Śreṇī\* literally means 'rows'. Evidently the members sat in rows, and this feature gave the name to the corporate body. Probably S'reṇī originally was a general term to signify all those bodies which transacted their business 'in their session' or by assembly system. The Mahā-Bhārata in older passages gives Śreṇībaddhāḥ rājānaḥ or 'rulers organised in rows', e.g., Sabhā-Parvan XIV. 4. (Kumbakonam Ed.), ### [c40.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.40) राजानः श्रे णिवद्धाश्च तथान्ये क्षत्रिया भुवि । ### [c40.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.41) These may refer to republican rulers or to a military organisation, the Artha-Śāstra having Śreṇī as a military division. In lawbooks, general literature, and inscriptions, Śreṇī has acquired the technical meaning of guild. ### [c40.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.42) two institutions of this group were corporate institutions. The Code of Yājñavalkya mentions jānapadas, gaṇas, śreṇīs and jātis (castes) as units who "also must be compelled to follow their own laws".¹ Mandlik with the true insight of the lawyer leaves the word \*jānapadāḥ\* untranslated and treats it as a technical term like the \*gaṇa\* and \*śreṇī\*. These two \*smṛiti\* passages similarly mention another institution \*Kula\*. We have already seen that there was a \*Kula\* form of Government. To find out the identity of Kula, let us take parallel passages on the point from the Artha-Śāstra. In the chapter dealing with samaya² or resolutions of corporate institutions (p. 173) Kautilya mentions the \*samaya\* of Deśa-saṁgha, Jāti-saṁgha, and Kula-saṁgha; i. e., of the country-corporate-association, of caste-corporate-association and the corporate association of a Kula. The Kula-saṁgha as we have seen³ is a technical term of Hindu politics. It means a constitution where Kula or family rules, i. e., an aristocratic or oligarchic state. Again at page 407 Deśa-saṁgha, Grāma-saṁgha and Jāti-saṁgha are mentioned. The Mānava-dharma-śāstra¹ deals with the 'breakers of \*samayas\*' (resolutions or laws of corporate assemblies) and mentions the \*Grāma-saṃgha\* and the \*Deśa-saṃgha\* which are paraphrased again as \*Grāma-samūha\*, \*Jāti-samūha\*, etc. \*Deśa\*, or the \*Jānapada\* association is also found in Bṛihaspati² where the laws of guild-merchant and the laws of Deśa are referred to together. In another verse³ the resolutions of the 'town' and of the 'country' (Deśa), 'not being opposed to the laws of the king' are provided for. Manu (VIII. 41), instead of \*Jāti-saṃgha\* gives \*Jāti\* only, and instead of \*Deśa-saṃgha\*, mentions \*Jānapada\*. In VIII. 46, in the place of \*Jānapada\*, \*Deśa\* is substituted. By \*Deśa\* in such passages the ### [c40.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.43) ¹ Yājñavalkya I. 360 and 361. व्यवहारान्नृपः पश्येत्सभ्यैः परिवृतोऽन्वहम् । कुलानि जातीः श्रेणीश्च गणान्जानपदानपि ॥ ३६० स्वधर्माच्चलितान् राजा विनीय स्थापयेत्पथि । ग्रामश्रेणिगणानाञ्च सङ्केतः समयक्रिया ॥ Bṛihaspati quoted in Vīramitrodaya, p. 425. See below. ### [c40.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.44) ² देशजातिकुलसंघानां समयस्यानपाकर्म । ### [c40.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.45) ³ See § 87 above. ### [c40.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.46) ¹ Manu VIII. 218-221. ### [c40.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.47) अत ऊर्द्ध्वं प्रवक्ष्यामि धर्म्मं समयभेदिनाम्॥ १८ यो ग्रामदेशसङ्घानां कृत्वा सत्येन संविदम् । विसंवदेन्नरो लोभात्तं राष्ट्राद्विप्रवासयेत् ॥ १८ ... ... ... एवं दण्डविधिं कुर्य्याद्धार्मिकः पृथिवीपतिः । ग्रामजातिसमूहेषु समयव्यभिचारिणाम् ॥ २१ ### [c40.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.48) देशस्थित्यानुमानेन नैगमानुमतेन वा । क्रियते निर्णयस्तत्र व्यवहारस्तु बाध्यते ॥ —Quoted in Vīramitrodaya, p. 120. ### [c40.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.49) ग्रामो देशश्च यत्कुर्य्यात्सत्यलेख्यं परस्परम् । राजाविरोधिधम्र्मार्थं संवित्पत्रं वदन्ति तत् ॥ —Bṛihaspati quoted in Vīramitrodaya, p. 189. See also Yājñavalkya: निजधर्म्माविरोधेन यस्तु सामयिको भवेत् । सोऽपि यत्नेन संरक्ष्यो धर्म्मो राजकृतश्च यः ॥ ### [c40.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.50) association \*Deśa samgha\* or the \*Jānapada\* is obviously meant. Similarly, when a document registered by the Deśa-adhyaksha is termed by Vyāsa the law-giver a Jānapada document, the adhyaksha of Deśa is the President of the Deśa assembly or the Jānapada.¹ The above data prove that the Jānapada of Manu and Yājñavlkya and the Deśa-samgha of Manu and Kauṭilya are identical. The corporate association Jānapada or Deśa-Samgha as the name signifies, was a body for the whole country (except, as we shall presently see, the capital). ### [c40.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.51) ¹ Aparārka (Y., II. 92) quotes the verses of Vyāsa on the subject dealing with documentary evidence:— ### [c40.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.52) § 251. The Jānapada yet has another synonym in Rāshtra, which is found in later works. In the Daśakumāra-charita (Ch. 3), the president of the Jānapada is called Jānapada-mahattara (Lord High President). Further on, the same person is called the Rāshtra-mukhya or the Leader of the Realm (Assembly). ### [c40.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.53) In a manuscript of Mitramiśra's unpublished commentary on Yājñavalkya ³ I find, in connection with the ### [c40.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.54) ³ Viramitrodaya on Yājñavalkya kindly lent to me by Mr. Govindadāsa of Benares. ### [c40.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.55) द्वित्रिलिपिज्नः स्वहस्तेन स्वलेक्येन युक्तिभिः । कुर्याद्धि सदृशं लेख्यं तस्मान्न जानपदं शुभम् ॥ देशाध्यक्ष्यादिना लेख्यं यत्र जानपदं कृतम् ॥ ### [c40.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.56) Vyāsa sees danger of successful denial in the case of a document written even in the hand-writing of the executant, for a cunning man may write several hands. A Jānapada document therefore, 'alone', i.e., registered by the Deśa-president or others (i.e., his officers as in the case of government registration by the officer of the king. \*Vishṇu\*, VII. 3. ‘\*\*राजाधिकरणे तन्नियुक्तकायस्थकृतं तदध्यक्षकरचिह्नितं राजसाक्षितं\*\*’) was a good proof (see § 269). ### [c40.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.57) ² Cf. \*Rāmāyaṇa\* Bk. II, canto 83, v. 15. \*\*ग्रामघोषमहत्तराः\*\* । The \*Rāmā\* commentary has \*\*ग्रामे घोषे च वर्तमाना महत्तराः\*\*; Govindarāja: \*\*महत्तराः प्रधानभूताः\*\* । \[Ghosha according to Patañjali and Kātyāyana was a small township with corporate arms and seal. Pt. I. p. 44 n\]. ### [c40.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.58) subject of relief which could not be granted or suits which could not be entertained (anādeya-vyavahāra), that a suitor who was hostile to the Paura, i. e., the City Assembly of the Capital (see below), or to the Rāshtra was not to be granted relief. The authority quoted is that of Brihaspati. A similar verse is given in the Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra) at page 44, where instead of Paura, the reading is Pura, capital. The expressions Pura and Rāshtra are explained by Mitra-Miśra as Paura-Jānapada. Rāshtra here thus stands for the Jānapada-body as it does in the Daśakumāra-charita. ### [c40.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.59) § 252. Before dealing with the functions of the Jānapada it would be convenient to notice the corporate association of the Capital. The Capital Assembly is a twin sister of the Jānapada in constitutional matters. The two are almost always mentioned together, and sometimes one stands for both. ### [c40.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.60) Paura does not relate to all the towns in the kingdom as it has been translated by both Indians and Europeans. Earlier Hindu writers understood by the technical Pura and Nagara, 'the Capital.' Paura as a corporate body is mentioned in the singular like Jānapada in the inscription of Khāravela (C. 165 B. C.)¹ who granted privileges to the Paura. In the Corporate sense it is clearly mentioned again in the Divyāvadāna where Kunāla is supposed to have entered the Paura (used in singular, that is, the Paura assembly). Tishyarakshitā addressed her forged letter according to the Divyāvadāna to the Pauras, i.e., an organised body. The author of the Vīramitrodaya definitely states that the Paura, which occurs along with corporate bodies in the law-books, was 'the body of the citizens of the capital.'¹ ### [c40.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.61) ¹ \*J.B.O.R.S.\*, III 42. ### [c40.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.62) ² \*Divyāvadāna\*, p.410 ### [c40.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.63) ¹ पौरः पुरवासिनां समूहः । \*V. M.\*, p. 11. ### [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 ### [c40.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.65) ² समूहः वणिगादीनां पूगः संप्रकीर्तितः । Cited by Chaṇḍeśvara, \*Vivāda R.\*, p. 669 ### [c40.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.66) ³ That is, 'the samūha of the Jainas or Buddhists' 'आर्हतसौगतानां तु समूहः सङ्घ उच्यते ।' \*All pūgas\* in VR, 669. ### [c40.67](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.67) ⁴ \> गणापायद्वपूगाश्च ब्राताश्च श्रेशयस्तथा । \> समूहस्थाश्च ये चान्ये वर्गांस्वांस्ते बृहस्पत्तिः ॥ \*Ibid.\* ### [c40.68](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.68) ⁵ ग्रामपौरगणाश्च यदवस्तद्विचारण वर्गिणः \*V.M.\* (Vyavahāra), p. 11. ### [c40.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.69) ⁶ \*VR\* 670, (समूहस्था मिलिताः). ### [c40.70](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.70) ⁷ समूहानां तु यो धर्मस्तेन धर्मेण ते सदा । \*Ibid.\*, 180. ### [c40.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.71) ⁸ Cf. Mitra-Miśra's comment on another corporate body (\*Sārtha\*), मिलितो जनसंघः 'associated body of men', \*VM.\*, p. 11. Yājñavalkya provides for punishing those who act contrary to the decision of the 'samūha well-wishers,' \*Ibid.\*, p. 179. Kātyāyana provides for a dispute between Samūha and its leader. VR., 184. ### [c40.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.72) Amara and Kātya, lexicographers, in giving the meanings of Prakṛiti say that the term means amongst others, the Pauras, i. e., 'the Associations (Śreṇayaḥ) of the Pauras'.¹ ### [c40.73](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.73) ¹ अमात्याश्चापि पौराश्च सद्भिः प्रकृतयः स्मृताः। \*Kātya\*, quoted by Kshīrasvāmin on \*Amara\*, II. 8. 18. राज्याङ्गानि प्रकृतयः पौराणां श्रेणयोऽपि च। Trivandrum Sanskrit Series no. 51 p. 64. ### [c40.74](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.74) In the Rāmāyaṇa, the Paura-Jānapada body is appealed to by Bharata when Rāma refuses to go back to Ayodhyā:— ### [c40.75](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.75) "What do you order his Highness".² ### [c40.76](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.76) ² आसीनस्त्वेव भरतः पौरजानपदं जनम्। उवाच सर्वतः प्रेक्ष्य किमार्यं नानुशासथ॥ R. A. K. 111. 19. ### [c40.77](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.77) The body approves of the argument of Rāma, and in reply Bharata speaks, addressing them:— ### [c40.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.78) 'Hear, please, you my assemblies'.³ ### [c40.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.79) ³ शृण्वन्तु मे परिषदः मन्त्रिणः सुहृदस्तथा। \*Ibid.\*, 24. ### [c40.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.80) The assembly character thus was prominent. ### [c40.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.81) §258. The \*Paura\* was a communal association in which was vested the municipal administration of the Capital.⁴ Apart from its municipal work it exercised great constitutional powers. Let us first take the Municipal administration of the Paura. ### [c40.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.82) ⁴ Cf. मन्दोत्सुक्योऽस्मि नगरगमनं प्रति, \*Śakuntalā\*, Act II. पुरं मुख्यनगरम्—\*Vīramitrodaya\*, p. 11. The term for ordinary town or township is ग्राम \*e.g.\* ग्रामपौराण्यक्षेणश्यम्चातुर्विद्यश्च वणिजः। \*Ibid.\* The \*Artha-Śāstra\* uses the word नगर and दुर्ग for the capital, and ग्राम for ordinary town. Pāṇini and Patañjali use नगर and पुर for capital, and ग्राम for ordinary town. Cf. Pāṇini VII. 3. 14 and Kāśikā on that; also VI. 2. 100; Patañjali, on the use of ग्राम for town, शाकलं नाम वाहीकग्रामः on Pāṇini IV. 2. 104. \*Śākala\* which was the old capital of the Madras ceased to be a नगर of capital under Pushyamitra. It is probably for that reason called a ग्राम, an ordinary town. See also \*Artha-Śāstra\*, p. 46 f.n. \*\*नगरं राजधानी.\*\* The commentator, commenting on the \*nāgarikāḥ\* in Vātsyāyana's \*Kāma-Sūtra\* (Bk. II. ch. 5) says: ### [c40.83](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.83) It was presided over by a leading citizen generally a merchant or a banker. The Hindu Mayor was called \*Śreshṭhin\* or the President. According to the Rāmāyaṇa, the Paura as well as the Jānapada consisted of two sections, the Inner and the Outer bodies. The Inner must have been the executive council which sat permanently. We hear often of the Paura and the Nagara-Vriddhas, or the Elders of the Paura. On the analogy of other popular institutions of the country we can say that the Paura-Vriddhas constituted a Council of Elders which was probably identical with the Inner body of the Rāmāyaṇa. An exception is made in the Dharma-Sūtras to the general rule of etiquette in the case of a Paura ex-member of the Śūdra caste who is entitled ### [c40.84](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.84) \*\*नागरिका इति पाटलिपुत्रिकाः ।\*\* On \*Durga\* as equivalent of \*Pura cf\*. Narada—\*\*संरक्षेत्समयं राजा दुर्गे जनपदे तथा,\*\* ### [c40.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.85) \*Vīramitrodaya\*, p. 425. \*\*नगर\*\* in Aśoka's inscriptions means a provincial capital as well. Manu, vii. 29, divides the kingdom into \*\*दुर्ग\*\* and \*\*राष्ट्र\*\* : ### [c40.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.86) \*\*ततो दुर्गं च राष्ट्रं च लोकञ्च सचराचरम् ।\*\* For \*\*दुर्गं\*\* and \*\*पुर\*\* as capital, \*see\* Manu VII. 70: \*\*धन्वदुर्गं महीदुर्गमब्दुर्गं वार्क्षमेव वा ।\*\* \*\*नृदुर्गं गिरिदुर्गं वा समाश्रित्य वसेत्पुरम् ॥\*\* \*\*प्रशंसते जनः सर्वो राष्ट्रे पुरवरे तथा ।\*\* \*\*आभ्यन्तरश्च बाह्यश्च पौरजानपदो जनः ॥\*\* (AK.) "The whole nation in the Rāshṭra as well as in the best of capitals praises him, likewise the Paura-Jānapada body—both the Inner and the Outer—praise him." It should be noticed that the \*\*Paura-Jānapada\*\* is taken as distinct from the people in the realm and the capital. The two bodies Inner and Outer are mentioned in the Mahābhārata also. See below ch. on taxation. For \*jana\* in the collective sense, see its use in Aśoka's inscr. Pillar series VII. \*\*जनं धर्मयुतं\*\*—the body of the men in the Dharma Service (Department). ### [c40.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.87) to special respect even from a Brahmin.¹ This shows that the Paura had a real popular basis representing even the lowest interest. ### [c40.88](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.88) ¹ \*Gautama Dharma Sūtra\* (\*Sūtra\*) VI. 9-11. ### [c40.89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.89) § 254. The Paura had a Registrar and a document given by him was regarded as a superior kind of evidence.² The Registrar's document was the chief of the laukika lekhyas or popular documents as opposed to rājakīya or government documents. This shows that Paura was not a body appointed by the king. ### [c40.90](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.90) ² \*Vasishṭha\*, edition by Fuehrer, p. 84, ### [c40.91](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.91) The non-political functions of the Paura which are mentioned in the law books are these: ### [c40.92](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.92) (\*a\*) Administration of Estates: They were authorised by the king to administer, along with government officers, property left by a deceased person³ (Vasishṭha XVI. 20). ### [c40.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.93) ³ \*Vāsishṭha Dharma Sūtra\* (\*Sūtra\*) XVI. 19-20. ### [c40.94](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.94) A Brahmin who ordinarily is never expected to do any honour to a Śūdra has to get up when a Śūdra who is an ex-member of the Paurā came though he be below eighty. Further, Sūtra 15 lays down an exception with regard to etiquette between Pauras. Even if the difference in age were of ten years fellow-Pauras were to treat each other as if born on the same day (14-15). ऋत्विक्श्वशुरपितृव्यमातुलानां तु यवीयसां प्रत्युत्थानं नाभिवाद्यः ॥ ६ ॥ तथान्यः पूर्वः पौरोऽशीतिकावरः शूद्रेाऽप्यपत्यसमेन ॥ १० ॥ अवरोऽप्यार्यः शूद्रे वा ॥ ११ ॥ नाम चास्य वर्जयेत् ॥ १२ ॥ भो भवन्निति वयस्यः समानेऽहनि जातः ॥ १४ ॥ दशवर्षवृद्धः पौरः ॥ १५ ॥ ### [c40.95](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.95) चिरकं नाम लिखितं पुराख्यैः पौरलेखकैः । Also \*Vishṇu\*, S. VII. 3, Cf. the survival in Bengal family title Pura-Kāyastha. ### [c40.96](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.96) प्रहीणद्रव्याणि राजगामीनि भवन्ति ॥१९॥ ततोऽन्यथा राजा मन्त्रिभिः सह नागरैश्च कार्याणि कुर्यात् ॥२०॥ तयानाधदरिद्राणां संस्कारो यजनक्रिया । Brihaspati, \*Viramitrodaya\*, p. 425. बालद्रव्यं ग्रामवृद्धा वर्धयेयुराव्यवहारप्रापणात् देवद्रव्यञ्च । “Elders of the township should increase property of minors till they attain capacity-at-law. They should do the same with regard to the property of gods.”—\*Artha Śāstra\*, p. 48. ### [c40.97](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.97) (\*b\*) \*\*Works which contributed to the material strength of the citizens\*\* (called ‘Paushtika’¹ works) were done by them, and likewise, ### [c40.98](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.98) (\*c\*) Works which ensured the \*\*peace of the city\*\* (śāntika),¹ \*i.e.\*, policing the town. These two classes of work are qualified as being either ‘ordinary’, ‘extra-ordinary’, or ‘discretionary’. ### [c40.99](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.99) ¹ \> नित्यं नैमित्तिकं काम्यं शान्तिकं पौष्टिकं तथा । पौराणां कर्म कुर्य्युस्ते संदिग्धे निर्णयं तथा ॥ —Brihaspati in the \*Viramitrodaya\*, p. 424. \> चाटचौरभये बाधाः सर्वसाधारणाः स्मृताः । तत्रोपशमनं कार्य्यं सर्वैर्नैकेन केनचित् ॥ \*Ibid.\* ### [c40.100](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.100) (\*d\*) \*\*Judicial work\*\*,³ which must have been limited to the matter of municipal administration. Criminal authority proper, \*i.e.\*, in cases of the Sāhasa³ (Violence) class, is expressly excepted from the jurisdiction of the Paura Court. According to an authority quoted by Mitra Miśra, probably Bhṛigu, as well as others, the Paura Court was an institution recognised by the king. ### [c40.101](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.101) ³ \> साहसन्यायवर्ज्ञानि कुर्युः कार्याणि ते नृणाम् । —Brihaspati in the \*Viramitrodaya\*, p 40. ### [c40.102](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.102) (\*e\*) \*\*Charge of sacred and public places.\*\* The Paura, like any township, looked after temples and other sacred places of the Capital. They did repairs to those buildings. The buildings named are sabhā, prapā (place for distribution of water), taṭāka (public baths), ārāma (rest-houses), and devagṛiha (temples).⁴ ### [c40.103](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.103) ² See last note: संदिग्धे निर्णयं तथा । Also: \> ग्रामपौरगणाश्चैव येचान्येनुविद्यया वर्गिणः । कुलानि कुलिकाश्चैव नियुक्ता नृपतिस्तथा ॥ —\*Viramitrodaya\* p. 11. ### [c40.104](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.104) ⁴ \> धर्म्मकार्य्यमपि संभूय कार्य्यमित्युक्तं तेनैव— सभाप्रपादेवगृह तटाकारामसंस्कृतिः ॥ —Brihaspati in the \*Viramitrodaya\*, p. 425. Ārāma meant both a ‘rest-house’ and a ‘park-garden.’ ### [c40.105](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.105) § 256. I propose to identify the description of the municipal government noticed by Megasthenes at Pāṭaliputra, with the Paura organisation of Hindu India. Strabo,¹ after giving the description of Pāṭaliputra describes its administration. The most important point to mark in that is the phrase 'the City Magistrates' which in the mouth of a Greek will signify popular officers and not officers appointed by the king. The royal officer, Governor of the City, the 'Nāgaraka', as described in the Artha-Sāstra was distinct. These 'city magistrates' had six boards of five members each who looked after ### [c40.106](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.106) ¹ Strabo, Bk. XV. 50 (4-15). Compare the "magistrates of self-governed cities" as opposed to royal officers in Arrian XII. ### [c40.107](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.107) (\*a\*) industrial matters of the city, (\*b\*) foreigners in the city on whose death they administered their properties (forwarded them to their relatives,² (\*c\*) registration of births and deaths in the city, (\*d\*) trade and commerce and manufactures of the city and collection of municipal duty on the sale of articles. "Such are the functions which these bodies "separately discharged. In their collective "capacity they have charge both of their special "departments and also of matters affecting the general interests, "as the keeping of public buildings in "repairs, regulation of prices, the care of markets, harbours "and temples." ### [c40.108](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.108) ² A scholar who does not take so much notice of Hindu authorities as he draws on analogies and comparisons has misunderstood this Paura jurisdiction of the Maurya capital as a consular department borrowed from Persia! It should be noticed that the Paura administered estates in co-operation with the ministry, according to Vasiṣṭha (XVI. 20). ### [c40.109](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.109) § 257. The 'city magistrates' of Strabo are the Paura-mukhyas or the Paura-vriddhas. The boards of five and the full board of the thirty disclose the same arrangement as the quorums of three, five, ten, twenty and upwards in the Parishads of Law, the Buddhist Saṃgha, and the pañchaka, daśaka and viṃśaka saṃghas of Patañjali.¹ Brihaspati also enjoins committees of five in corporate associations.² In the Buddhist Saṃgha certain matters could be discussed by small quorums. But matters of greater importance could be discussed and decided by quorums of twenty and upwards only.³ In the description of the Paura of Pātaliputra we see that the council decides matters of general interest by the bigger quorum. This collective council of the 'city magistrates' corresponds to what the Rāmāyaṇa calls the Inner Body of the Paura. The Outer, the general body, must have been composed of a fairly large number, when the Inner alone had thirty members. ### [c40.110](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.110) ¹ Patañjali on Pāṇini V. 1. 58 and 59. ### [c40.111](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.111) ² द्वौ त्रयः पञ्च वा कार्याः समूहहितवादिनः। कर्त्तव्यं वचनं तेषां ग्रामश्रेणिगणादिभिः॥ —Viramitrodaya, p. 427. ### [c40.112](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.112) ³ \*Mahāvagga\*, IX. 4. 1. पञ्च संघा। चतुरग्गो भिक्खुसंघो पञ्चवग्गो भिक्खुसंघो दसवग्गो भिक्खुसंघो वीसतिवग्गो भिक्खुसंघो अतिरेकवीसतिवग्गो भिक्खुसंघो। \*See also\* IX. 3. 5, etc. ### [c40.113](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.113) § 258. Grāma or Township is called a \*vargin\* as seen above. Varga means an assembly or quorum. In that sense Pāṇini also uses it (V. 1. 60., \[See Kāśikā on it: पञ्चको वर्गः दशको वर्गः\]. Other corporate associations are called \*Vargins\* (those who worked by the \*Varga\* or assembly system). In a law text (Bhṛigu) quoted by Mitra Miśra (\*Viramitrodaya\* p. 11) \*Paura\* and \*grāma\* as well as \*gaṇa\* are called \*vargins\* \[Cf. Kātyāyana quoted by Nīlakaṇṭha: ### [c40.114](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.114) लिङ्गिनः श्रेणिपूगांश्च वणिग्जातांस्तथापरे । समूहस्थांश्च ये चान्ये वर्गांस्तानब्रवीद्भृगुः ॥ \] ### [c40.115](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.115) The vargas of Vāsudeva and Akrūra are mentioned in the Mahābhāshya, IV. 2. 2. Varga in the corporate sense is employed by Gautama in his Dharma Sāstra, Chapter XI, Sūtras 20—21 : ### [c40.116](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.116) देशजातिकुलधर्माश्चाम्नायैरविरुद्धः प्रमाणम् । कर्षक-वणिक्-पशुपाल-कुसीदि-कारवः स्वे स्वे वर्गे ॥ ### [c40.117](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.117) "The laws of the cultivators, merchants, cattle-breeders, "bankers and artizans should be authority in their own "corporations." It should be noted that cultivators had their own unions in the days of Gautama. ### [c40.118](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.118) § 259. The Paura, according to the Artha-Sāstra (p. 89), had gold coins minted at the royal mint.¹ This might have been a constitutional function as exercising check on the royal minting of improper coins or it might have been a purely economic function. Very likely it was the latter. The Pura or capital had the Association of the City Merchants which was called the Naigama.² This name was exclusively employed to the Guild of the City Merchants. It is wrong to take it, as it has been done up to this time, as a general term for Guild Merchants. ### [c40.119](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.119) ¹ Up to recent decades the custom of getting coins minted by merchants was current in this country. ### [c40.120](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.120) ² नैगमाः पौरवणिकः, Mitra Miśra, Vīramitrodaya, p. 120 ; also नगराणि कत्वर्जितानि निगमवणिजां स्थानानि \*Prauḍha-Vyākaraṇa-Sūtra-Vyākhyāna\* quoted by Shama Sastry, Artha Sāstra p. 46 f. n. The lawgivers put \*naigama\* in the list of corporate bodies, e. g., पाषण्ड-नैगम-श्रे णि-पूग-वात गणादिषु Nārada quoted in VR., p. 180 ; श्रेणि नैगम पाषण्ड गणानामप्ययं विधिः Yājñavalkya (Ibid.,) p. 179. \*Pāshaṇḍa\* here means the Buddhist and Jaina religious associations, their \*gaṇas\* and \*saṅghas\*. ### [c40.121](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.121) The general term is Śreṇi as well as Pūga, the difference between the two being not very clear.¹ Now it appears that originally the Naigama of the capital was the mother of the Paura Association. The Paura grew out or around the Naigama (§ 201). In the Jātakas and Pāli Canon Naigama (Negama) stands for Paura.² Modern translators have translated it by 'town'. It really refers to 'the town' or Capital. Hindu commentators on law books equate Naigama with Paura.³ In the Pāli books Naigama comes with Jānapada as in Sanskrit books Paura comes with Jānapada. The connection between the City guild of merchants and the City Corporation was so intimate that both came to be regarded as identical. This is the reason why the mercantile interest is predominant in the Paura.⁴ The Rāmāyaṇa mentions the Naigama always with the Paura and treats them as connected though distinct.⁵ The Naigama had its assembly hall and office—\*sabhā\*, where it held its meetings as the Paura-Jānapadas held theirs in their sabhās and on their squares.⁶ We find a donor, a nobleman, recording at the Nigama-Sabhā his investments with certain guilds, śreṇis, of the town Govardhana, the interest to go to certain charities in perpetuity. M. Senart translates the passage in question thus—"all this has been proclaimed (and) registered at "the town's hall, at the record office, according to custom".¹ Naigama thus was connected with, and probably over, the Śreṇis or guilds of the City. ### [c40.122](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.122) ¹ Daśālikartṛkaṇa were combined as Vrātas. See Patañjali on Pāṇini V. 2. 21. ### [c40.123](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.123) ² \*Jātaka\*, Vol. I p. 149. सव्वे नेगमजानपदे; \*Kūṭadanta Sutta\*, \*Dīghanikāya\*, para. 12. नेगमा च येव जानपदा च ते भवं राजा आमन्तयत। ### [c40.124](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.124) ³ \*Caṇḍeśvara\*, VR pp. 177, 180 नैगमाः पौराः, नैगमः पौरसमूहः ### [c40.125](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.125) ⁴ Cf. Śreṣṭhin who is always a rich merchant. See below on the composition of the Paura. ### [c40.126](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.126) ⁵ \*Rāmāyaṇa\*, Y. K. 127, 14. ### [c40.127](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.127) ⁶ गुणाँः समुदितान् दृष्ट्वा पौराः पाण्डुसुताँस्तदा। \*\*\* \*\*\* कथयन्ति स्म सम्भूय चत्वरेषु सभासु च॥ —\*Mahā-Bhārata\* quoted by Mitra Miśra in VMR., p. 40. ### [c40.128](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.128) ¹ Nasik cave inscription, \*E. I.\*, VIII. 82. Text:— "गोवर्धन-वास्तव्ये श्रे णिषु कोलीकनिकाये २००० वृद्धि पडिकशत...एत च सर्वं स्रावित निगम-सभाय निबध च फलकवारे चरित्रतोति।" \*Charitra\* was recorded in books, See \*AS.\*, II. 25, p. 62. \*Charitrato\* may mean 'as Charitra was recorded'; \*Srāvita\* according to law books would mean 'attested.' The transaction was 'attested' at the Nigama Sabhā, i.e., by registration. Hindu method of attestation included both 'witnessing' and 'hearing'. ### [c40.129](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.129) § 260. The Paura being so pronouncededly mercantile, their getting coins minted at the royal mint we can take as an economic measure. The 'Negama coins' which are interpreted as coins struck by guilds, are, I think, to be interpreted as coins struck at the capital by the state for the association of the City Merchants or the Paura.² And the coins bearing the name of chief towns, e. g, Ujeniya,³ can be thus explained as being Paura coins.⁴ ### [c40.130](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.130) ² Cf. \*Artha-śāstra\*, p. 89, सौवर्णिकः पौरजानपदानां रूप्यसुवर्णमावेशनिभिः कारयेत् । ### [c40.131](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.131) ³ Cunningham, \*A. S. R.\*, Vol XIV., p. 148. ### [c40.132](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.132) ⁴ The Dojaka coin bearing the word नेगम (Cunningham, \*Coins of Ancient India\*, p. 64, pl. III ) would signify that the name of the capital was Dojaka. See also the Eran coin (\*A. S. R.\*, Vol. XIV, p. 148; \*C. A. I.\*, pp. 99-102). ### [c40.133](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40.133) § 261. The literal significance of Nigama, from which Naigama is derived, is in accordance with Pāṇini, III. 3. 119, 'the place (or house) whereinto people resort.' It would have been the meeting-place or the bourse in the Capital where merchants and tradesmen in the Capital met. The body of the people associated with the Nigama, the bourse or the guildhall, were called Naigama. ## Linked texts (30) - [Aṣṭādhyāyī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.vyakarana.astadhyayi.4.2.104) — Pāṇini, Sanskrit - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.8.41) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Vasiṣṭhadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.vasistha.16.19) — Vasiṣṭha, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki.2.14) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Vaiṣṇava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.visnu.7.3) — Viṣṇu, Sanskrit - [Mahāvagga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.khandhaka.mahavagga.9.4.1) — Pāli - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya.2.25) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Taittirīyasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.krsnayajur*taittiriya.1.8.10) — Sanskrit - [Yājñavalkyasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.yajnavalkya.1.360) — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit - [Gautamadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.gautama.11.20) — Gautama (dharmasūtrakāra), Sanskrit - [Aitareyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.7.13) — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit - [Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.brhadaranyaka.6.2) — Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.2.14.4) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka) — Pāli - [Bhṛgusaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.rsi.bhrgusamhita) — Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Divyāvadāna](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.avadana.divyavadana) — 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 - [Nāradasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.narada) — Nārada, Sanskrit - [Daśakumāracarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.novels.prasiddha.dasakumaracarita) — Daṇḍin, Sanskrit - [Ἰνδική](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.gr.roman.arrian.indica) — Λούκιος Φλάουιος Ἀρριανός, Ancient Greek - [Vīramitrodaya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.nibandha.viramitrodaya) — Mitramiśra 1610, Sanskrit - [Vyāsasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Tibetan translation ('Chi med mdzod)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.kosa.paryaya.amarakosa*bo) — Classical Tibetan - [Dīghanikāya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.digha) — Pāli - [Kāmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.kama.vatsyayana) — Vātsyāyana Mallanāga, Sanskrit - [Abhijñānaśākuntala](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.plays.sakuntala) — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit - [Gopathabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.gopatha) — Sanskrit - [Vivādaratnākara](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.vyavahara.vivada.vivadaratnakara) — Caṇḍeśvara, Sanskrit - [Nasik cave inscription (No. 16, N. 5) (ed. Hultzsch 1906)](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.deccan.satavahana.nasik-no-16*hultzsch1906) — Prakrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c40) · Pramāṇa