The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c7.s4: Hindu Republics
The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c7.s4
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Hindu Republics
c7.s4.1
At this stage it is desirable to be acquainted with the non-king *gaṇa* polities of the Hindus. These republican states have to be placed in three periods¹⁰:
1. c. B.C. 600-450: The republican clans of the *Jātaka* literature.
2. c. B.C. 350-300: The republics encountered by Alexander.
3. c. 150-350 A.C.: The survivals of the previous republican clan-states between the fall of the Maurya and the rise of the Gupta Empire.
c7.s4.2
¹⁰ B. K. Sarkar: *The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus* (Leipzig 1922) pp. 139-150; B. C. Law: *Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India* (Calcutta 1923); De la Vallée Poussin: *Indo-Européens et Indo-Iraniens: L'Inde jusque vers 300 av. J. C.* (Paris 1924), *L'Inde aux Temps des Mauryas et des Barbares, Grecs, Scythes, Parthes et Yueh-tchis* (Paris 1930) pp. 12-16, 32, 34. What may be described as a "geo-political" study of India during this period is furnished in N. Dutt: *Early History of the Spread of Buddhism* (Calcutta 1925). See also B. C. Sen: "Studies in the Buddhist Jatakas" (*Journal of the Department of Letters*, Calcutta University, Vol. XX., 1930).