Local Government in Ancient India c7.10

c7.10

Thus, to take a few examples, the term *śreṇī* in Manu, VIII. 41,¹ is explained by Medhātithi² as ‘guilds of merchants, artisans, bankers, Brāhmans learned in the four Vedas’, &c.; by Govindarāja, as ‘guilds of merchants and *husbandmen*’; and by Nandana, as ‘guilds of merchants and actors’.³ The term *śreṇī* in Nārada, I. 7⁴ has been defined by one commentator as an assemblage of eminent *merchants* and by others as a company of *artisans*. The *Kauṭilīya* uses the word *śreṇī* in II. iv⁵ in the sense of guilds of workmen, but in VII. xvi¹ the word has a political reference, meaning a military clan; and in XI. i.² the term is applied to corporations that subsist by agriculture, trade, and military service, such as the Kāmbojas, Surāṣṭras, and Kṣatriyas. The *Smṛti-Candrikā* applies the term to the eighteen low castes and crafts like those of the washerman, leather-manufacturer, actor, basket and mat maker, fisherman, weaver, &c. (For the complete list see p. 65, Mysore Edition.) The *Mahābhārata* uses the word in the sense of a guild of merchants