Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.18

c11.18

The name is probably connected with *Jñāti* which occurs in the *Ṛg Veda*,⁴ the *Atharva Veda*,⁵ and later Sanskrit in the sense of "kinsman" or "relation." The writers of the *Vedic Index* comment that in this sense a *Jñāti* is apparently "one who was connected by blood on the father's side, though the passages do not necessarily require the limitation. But the sense follows naturally enough from the patriarchal basis of Vedic society".⁶ However, Böhtlinck and Roth prefer to derive the word *Jñāti* from the root *jan* rather than from *jñā* which in their opinion originally implied nearest acquaintance (*bekannter*).⁷ We are unable to decide the root from which the name is derived, but the connection of the root *jñā* with *Jñāta* appears more probable than that of *jan*. However, it seems fairly certain that the word *Nāya* (Sanskrit *Jñāta*) originally implied "kinsfolk" and that the term was later taken as a proper name for this tribe.⁸