Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c6.s2.7

c6.s2.7

The terms *gaṇa* and *saṅgha*, with reference to the republican form of government, do not occur until after the 6th century B.C.³ They then appear for the first time in the *Ācārāṅga Sūtra*,⁴ *Avadāna Śataka*,⁵ *Mahāvagga*,⁶ *Aṣṭādhyāyī*,⁷ *Arthaśāstra*,⁸ etc., and in the last 65 years several Indologists have endeavoured to bring out the constitutional significance of these terms. Professor Rhys Davids defines them as "republics with either complete or modified independence,"⁹ but while discussing the Sakyas, the Vajjians, the Mallas, etc., he refers to them merely as "clans."¹⁰ Even more surprising is the absence of the terms *gaṇa* and *saṅgha* from his monumental work on the Buddhist period.