The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c9.s1.t3.10

c9.s1.t3.10

Neither *samûha* nor *gaṇa*⁹ seems ever to have acquired the comprehensive connotation of *samgha*. But the diversity of Gierke's "group persons" in Hindu public life through the ages is self-evident. The attempt on the part of grammarians, logicians, political theorists and lawyers to analyze the concept of a public body and differentiate its various species is also significant. The story of Hindu public life has therefore partially to be sought in the development of *samghas*, *samûhas* and *gaṇas*,¹ the different categories of what may be called the Asian *polis*.