The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c9.s1.t2.3

c9.s1.t2.3

The use of *samûha* as a "genus" is to be noticed in Mitra Miśra's *Vîra-mitrodaya*,² a commentary on Yâjnavalkya. For according to him the *pûga* is a particular class of *samûha*. It was made up of those who "lived at the same place", but belonged to different social orders, the so-called castes, and followed different professions. It was thus a territorial concept, the term for a village or town, having the same connotation as in the grammar of Pâṇiṇi. In Vijnâneśvara,³ also, another commentator of Yâjnavalkya, *samûha* is generic, for he defines *gaṇa* to be a division of *samûha* and considers *grâma* (village) and other settled areas as belonging to this species. The same use of *samûha* is to be seen in Kâtyâyana,⁴ a jurist cited by Mitra Miśra.