The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c9.s1.t3.6

c9.s1.t3.6

During the early centuries of the Christian era, the term *gaṇa* appears to have been elevated one flight up in the series of "communities". From its status as the name of a *grâma* and *pura*, the *domus* and *civitas* of mediæval European jurisdictions, it came to imply also the *regnum* of a whole people, thus giving rise to another confusion in language. In the eulogies on military triumphs or other meritorious deeds inscribed by poets of the period we find the term being used to describe the association of "self-rulers", i. e., of "poly-archal" peoples organized on the principle of *sva-râj*. Republican nationalities of the Yaudheyas, Mâlavas and others are thus known as *gaṇas* in the coins⁶ and inscriptions⁷ of the Ândhra-Kuṣân and Gupta times. The poets of the *Mahâbhârata*⁸ also described the states in which all were "equal" by the same epithet.