The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c12.s1.t1: a) Third Period (c B. C. 150—A. C. 350)
The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c12.s1.t1
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a) Third Period (c B. C. 150—A. C. 350)
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To begin with the latest epoch of *gaṇas*. The period of about five hundred years (c B. C. 150—c A. C. 350) between the fall of the Maurya and the rise of the Gupta Empires witnessed the growth and development not only of two powerful monarchies, the Kuṣâns in the Northwest and the Andhras in the Deccan, as we have noticed in a preceding chapter, but also of a number of non-monarchical states that were considerable enough to leave a mark on diplomatic history. It is difficult as yet to describe definitely the duration or extent of sovereignty of these states, but numismatic finds clearly point to the fact that the republics which struck coins in the name of the respective peoples covered in their en-tirety the territory separating the southern from the northern power. And in the middle of the fourth century A. C. they served to furnish the *ultima thule* of the Gupta Napoleon's ambitions in the western di-rection. Geographically, therefore, all the independent republics en-joying full sovereignty were located in the Southern Punjab, Rajputana and Malwa.
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The northernmost were the Audumbaras¹ of the Punjab with juris-diction over the Ravi valley. They began to issue coins as a sovereign state during the first century B. C.
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¹ The coins of these *gaṇas* are fully described with illustrations in a chapter of Banerîji's compre-hensive numismatic volume in Bengalı, *Prâchîn Mudrâ* (Ancient Coins), I. (c B. C. 1000—A. C. 1300), pp. 102, 104, 109—120.
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1. The Yaudheyas
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To their south came the Yaudheyas who were known in their heyday as the "heroes among the Kṣatriyas", i. e. the "heroes of heroes". They were an independent power by about B. C. 100.² Their territories com-prised both banks of the Sutlej with spheres of influence occasionally extending to the banks of the Jumna on the east and the regions of Rajputana on the south.
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² Cunningham's *Coins of Ancient India*, p. 66, 75—79.
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In the second century, A. C., Rudra-dâmana³ (125—150) inflicted a defeat on them, but centuries earlier they had come out brilliantly in India's resistance to Alexander. The *mahârâja* or "great chief" (lit. great king) of this *gaṇa* was elected by the people, and he was also the *mahâ-senâpati* (commander-in-chief).
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³ *Ep. Ind.* 1905—06, pp. 44—47; Gup. Insc., p. 252.
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To the south of the Yaudheyas came the Arjunâyanas.⁴ During the first century B. C. and after they were thus in possession of northern Rajputana.⁵
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⁴ Rapson's *Indian Coins*, p. 11.
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⁵ Banerji's *Prâchîn*, p. 109.
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2. The Mâlavas
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Further south, between the Chambal and the Betwa, were settled the Mâlavas.⁶ Their status as an independent republic began sometime during the second century B. C. In the first century A. C. they had to encounter a punitive expedition under General Uṣavadâta,¹ the officer of Satrap Nahapâna, for having entered into an aggressive war with his feudatories, the Uttama-bhadras.
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⁶ *Ibid*, p. 113—117, Majumdar 116.
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¹ *Ep. Ind.* 1905—06, p. 79.
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The western neighbors of the Mâlavas were the Sibis.² Their earliest coins also belong to the end of the second century, B. C.³
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² Rapson, 14.
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³ *Arch. Surv. Rep.* VI, pp. 200—207.
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The Kunindas had their territory most probably adjoining to that of the Yaudheya republic in the east. They held the upper doab of the Ganges and the Jumna, in close proximity to the foot of the Himalayas.⁴ Their earliest coins as an independent state were probably issued in the second century B. C. A neighboring race, the Vriṣṇis,⁵ was likewise a power in the second century, B. C.
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⁴ *Ibid*, XIV, pp. 134—138, 146; Rapson, 12.
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⁵ Majumdar, 119.
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3. Pluralism in Constitutional Life
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During the first century, B. C., therefore, it was possible for the merchants of *Madhyadeśa* (the "middle countries" of Northern India) travelling in the Deccan to tell the subjects of the Ândhra Empire that the "form of government" was diverse in the north. On being asked by Kapphina *le Grand* as to the name of their ruler, as we read in the *Ava-dâna-śataka*⁶ they had to offer in their reply a distinction between the states ruled by *gaṇas* i. e. "*gouverné par une troupe (état republicain)*" and those ruled by kings. The story of the international relations or constitutional changes of the period is not at all clear, really a blank. We know only that in the teeth of Samudra-gupta's *digvijaya*, "conquest of quarters" (330—50), all these republican nations succeeded in maintaining their autonomy by doing homage and paying tribute.⁷ That is, they lost their sovereignty and became feudatories or protectorates of the Gupta Empire.
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⁶ No. 88. See Feer's French transl. p. 337.
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⁷ *Gup. Insc.*, p. 14.