Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s2.1

c6.s2.1

While the early Vedic texts support the existence of different kinds of non-monarchical governments, they fail to register the technical term by which these republican or quasi-republican political communities could be described constitutionally. The word *gaṇa*, which denoted a republic in the post-Vedic period, occurs for the first time in the Vedic texts,¹ chiefly in association with the Maruts and Ādityas, and has been interpreted as a "technical word for the republic" by Professor R. S. Sharma.² In most of the cases the *gaṇas* of the Maruts and Ādityas are connected with war and the spoils obtained by fighting were distributed equally among those who formed the *gaṇa*.³ Most authorities derive the word from the root *gaṇ*, meaning "to count" or "to reckon," and explain that the noun *gaṇa* literally means "a flock" or a "troop."¹ Keeping in view the connection of the Vedic *gaṇa* with war and spoils in the Vedic texts, it may appropriately be rendered as "troop" or "multitude," and the interpretation of "republic" is not warranted.² If the *gaṇa* had the technical sense of a republican state, it would be expected to occur in association with the four forms of non-monarchical government which we discuss a little later. As in the *Ṛg Veda* the word has no implicit or explicit sense of a type of government, and as it does not figure in association with different types of aristocracies, we differ from Professor Sharma's interpretation.