Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c41.148

c41.148

following their trade, 'the lords of their households.' Nechayika probably denoted the richer class of the Grihapati members as opposed to the Mahā-Bhārata's svalpadhanas, the 'small-wealth' members, of the Paura and Jānapada. This shows that the Paura and the Jānapada had almost all the classes of the population. The poor but highly intellectual class of Brahmins probably was not there as the qualification required was based on property of some value. The class of Brahmins whom I have described elsewhere as the aristocracy-in-poverty, *i.e.*, those who lived up to the ideal laid down in the Upanishads and the Dharma Sūtras, would not be included in bodies where property qualification was the law. If we keep this point in view we can understand why Brahmins as a class are mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa separately, as joining the conference of the Paura-Jānapada to discuss the question of the nomination of Yuvarāja by them.¹ The character of the Jānapada, as representing the whole country, is quite clear. They are called the Rāshtra or the kingdom itself and the Deśa or the Country itself. The Pauras were a fairly large body and presumably the Jānapadas were larger in number.