History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.165.2

v2.c19.165.2

Kauṭilya in one place distinguishes between soldiers and śreṇis (guilds) and in another place says that the guilds of kṣatriyas in Kāmbhoja and Surāṣṭra subsist by the profession of arms and vārtā (agriculture).¹⁶⁶ Vas. Dh. S. XVI. 15 says that boundary disputes are to be settled by the evidence of the old men in the village or town or of guilds (śreṇi) when there is conflict of documentary evidence. Viṣṇu Dh. S. V. 167 prescribes banishment for him who embezzles the wealth of associations (gaṇa) and who transgresses the conventions made by them. Manu (VIII. 219) has a similar rule about village and local associations (saṅgha). The above words are variously explained by the several commentators (vide my notes to the translation of Kātyāyana verses¹⁶⁷ 678-682 of that reconstructed smṛti). Kātyāyana says '*Naigama* is an association of citizens of the same city, vrāta is a company of soldiers carrying various arms, pūga is an association of traders and the like, gaṇa is a group of brāhmaṇas, sangha is a body of Bauddhas or Jainas; and bands of cāṇḍālas and śvapacas are called gulma.' Yāj. (I. 361) directs the king to punish kulas, castes, śreṇis, gaṇas, if they transgress their rules (of conduct or business) and the Mit. explains śreṇi as a guild of sellers of betel leaves and the like and gaṇa as of 'helābukas' (horse-dealers); while Yāj. II.