[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968) › c6.s2.16 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s2.16 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s2.16 - **Language:** English ### [c6.s2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c6.s2.16) In the years 1914-16 a great controversy raged about the term \*gaṇa\*, which J. F. Fleet translated merely as "tribe."¹¹ F. W. Thomas, supporting Jayaswal, interpreted it as meaning a "republican or oligarchic constitution."¹² He explained the \*gaṇa\* as "a sort of council representing the powerful families in the state."¹ Since then most scholars have accepted the fact that in the post-Vedic period the term denoted, beyond all doubt, a republican form of government. However, according to Professor R. C. Majumdar, the \*gaṇas\* "denoted, in general, merely corporations of particular kinds."² Majumdar is correct to a large extent, but his definition is vague and one does not get from it a clear idea as to precisely what the \*gaṇa\* meant in early constitutional terminology. - [Previous: c6.s2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c6.s2.15) - [Next: c6.s2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c6.s2.17) - [Up: c6.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c6.s2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c6.s2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c6.s2.16) · Pramāṇa