Political Concepts in Ancient India /93

Glossary
 
GA
 
GANA --(1) A republican government. Same as

Ganṇa-raājya, denoting a government by an assem-
bly or parliament.¹
 
(2) A form of government, where the power was
vested not in one person, but in a gana or group
of people. Samgha was another term used
precisely in the same sense."
 
(3) A tribal republic.³
 
(4) That the term implies a republican type of
government, sharply different from the monarch-
ical type is clear from an oft quoted passage of
the Avadana-Sataka, the meaning whereof is the
"Your Majesty, some countries are under ganas
and some are under Kings."
 
(5) A unit of army comprising 3 Gulmas or in
 
73
 
1
bly or parliament. Jayaswal, Hindu Polity, p. 21 ff. cf. Mahābhārata, ŠŚānti-

Parva. ch. 107, verses 6-32, gaṇānām vṛttimicchāmi śrotuṁ mati-

matāṁ vara, etc.
 

(2) A form of government, where the power was
vested not in one person, but in a gaṇa or group
of people. Saṁgha was another term used
precisely in the same sense. Altekar, SGAI, p. 109 ff.
 

(3) A tribal republic. Basham, The Wonder that was India, p. 41.
 
Digitized by
 

(4. ) That the term implies a republican type of
government, sharply different from the monarch-
ical type is clear from an oft quoted passage of
the Avadāna-Śataka, the meaning whereof is the
"Your Majesty, some countries are under gaṇas
and some are under Kings.'' "..deva keciddeśā gaṇādhiīnah kecid raājadhinaādhīnā iti (Avadāna
S
Śataka, ed. Speyer, Petrograd, 1902, II. P. 103, quoted by

Jayaswal, Hindu Polity, p. 26). An example of the ancient

republican states is that of the Vṛṣhnṇis, which used to issue coins
not in the name of any single monarch but in the name of the

not in the name of any single monarch but in the name of the
whole ganṇa (tribe). Cf. the celebrated coin-legend, vrsnṛṣṇi-raājan-

ya-gaṇasya-trātasya (Jayaswal, Ibid., p. 151).
 

In the Mahabharata, Saābhārata, Śānti Parva (81.29) also Andhaka-

Vrsnṛṣṇis are mentioned along with Yādavas, Kukuras, and Bhojas.

Naārada says that all of these republics are attached to Krshna,
presumably implying that all these republics formed a sort of
federation for some time.
 
ṛṣhṇa,
presumably implying that all these republics formed a sort of
federation for some time.
(5) A unit of army comprising 3 Google
 
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
 
ulmas or in