The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c12.4

c12.4

India’s institutional experience was not, however, confined to the monarchical sphere. The Hindu constitution grew along republican or non-monarchical lines also.¹ Let us exclude from our present consideration the patriarchal-democratic "crowned republics" of Vedic India,² the *kula-saṁghas* (family-soviets or communal republics) referred to in the *Artha-śâstra*³ as "invincible", or the *gaṇas*, described in the *Mahâbhârata*⁴ as nationalities constituted on the principle of "equality". Epigraphy and numismatics are now in a position to safely declare that there were at least three periods in the early history of India during which Hindus developed the *gaṇa* or *saṁgha* polity of the Hellenic and pre-Imperial Roman type.