Emergence of Janapada State in Ancient India :

Emergence of Janapada State in Ancient India :

                                                                                       Due to agriculture human life got stabilized at one place during the post-Vedic period and the family system came into existence. Coming together of many families made a village and coming together of many villages a town. During the post-Vedic period, the tribal settlements gave way to formation of ‘Janapadas ’ that brought together different clans and tribes. The element of exploitative relations became stronger and ‘ Varna’ became the social basis of new state. During this period, the decay of primitive society the Vedic assemblies practically disappeared, tribals were deprived of their customary rights, cultivating households lost the right to fight, with which went the right 0 fi to obtain share in the war booty.’

                                                                                  After the 6th century B.C. there emerged a large number of ‘Janapadas ' which were small states, inhabited by the people from different castes and tribes. The ‘gahapatis’ who were chiefs of household slowly acquired prosperity. They derived their prosperity from trade, crafts and agriculture. ‘A group of clans constituted a jana and a territory where they settled was called ‘Janapada ’. The ‘janapadas’ were named after the kshatriya lineages which had established their control in the area. During this period, the ‘kshatriya' lineages, claimed control over territory of ‘janapada ’ but the notion of well defined territory was uncertain and boundaries between ‘janapadas ’ tended to be topographical feature such as forests, rivers 53 and streams and hills’.29 The wealthy ‘gahapatis' came from Kshatriya and Vaishya castes and they commanded both family labour, as well as that of labour of shudras and iDasas\ The latter were subordinated because they were poor and did not belong to ruling lineages.

According to Dr. Romila Thapar, the ‘Kula’, Vis and Jana was spatial distribution moving in widening circles from the nucleus to the rim.’ As a result, diverse ethnic and cultural groups were incorporated in the system. With the development of Janapada states, two systems of government emerged. The first was the "Gana Samgha' or republican system and the second was monarchical system. During this period, household system of economy and private ownership of land gained ground and ‘ganapati ’ was not only head of household but was also landowner who cultivated his land with the help of slaves and labourers. They were men of wealth and extracted surplus from agriculture to invest in trade. In population number of cultivators was the highest.

 Meaning of Janapada:

                                      The word Janapada is composed of two words, "Jana ’ and "Pada ’, which literally means the place of habitation of a Jana ’. In common parlance ‘Jana ’ is used to denote people, but in the Vedic Samhitas it is employed in the technical sense of a tribe and connotes that stage of human evolution in Vedic period, when groups of human beings lived in mobile communities without any serious attachment on their part, to a particular territory.

                                                                According to K.P. Jayaswal the term ‘Janapada’ which literally and originally meant ‘the seat of the nation’ and which had been secondarily employed as denoting die nation itself, lost its old significance and came to mean what we call today country,’34 without reference to the racial elements inhabiting it.

                                                               In Panini ‘Janapada ’ stands for country and ‘Janapadin ’ for its citizens. The derivative meaning of the term ‘Janapada ’ points to the early stage of land taking by the ‘Jana’ for a settled way of life.’35 This process of the first settlement on land had completed its final stage prior to the time of Panini. ‘The Janapadas which were originally named after the people settled in them, dropped their tribal significance and figured as territorial units or regions. Panini testifies to this process by stating that the names of the Janapadas did not take after their original settlers, but were then current as independent proper names for territorial units.

                                                              In course of time, however, the ‘jams’ divided themselves into several families, lost their mobility imbibed a sort of filial affection towards the territory of their association and ultimately took to some specific piece of territory as their permanent homeland. The term ‘Janapada ’ as such is the settlement on a piece of territory by Jana and marks that stage of evolution from die Vedic India. They became territorially conscious and founded the first series of small territorial states, known as Janapada states.

 Nature of Jana

                The organization of Jana had a strong racial basis. All members of the community believed in common ancestry and worship. Bonds of the closest nature united all the members of the Jana. Property belonged in common to the whole group and was consequently inalienable and indivisible, passing from the dead to the living. All the members of "Jana’ lived in a state of perfect freedom. Men and women relation was direct, natural and biological. Men were bound together by brotherhood. The "Jana' life as such had a strong communal urge, based on the theory that everybody should work for all either in times of war and peace.’37 It was essentially a pastoral community and slowly they were getting familiar with agriculture.

                                                  The Jana society was a completely communal organization to start with, but the functional necessities gave birth to Varnas, the four Vamas from the different limbs and the different limbs are indicative of different functions.

                                                                 The formulation of political policies of the Jana rested with the samiti and the sabha. The Atharvaveda (VII.7.13,1) describes these two bodies as ‘the two daughters of prajapati, The ‘samiti’ seems to be the popular assembly of the ‘Jana ’ and ‘samiti ’ elected the king. These references point out that the whole people were supposed to be present in the Samiti. The Samiti was a policy making body. Due to its strength, it could not hold regular sessions, so the sabha a smaller body of wise 56 men acted under its authority. It seems that the Sabha was a standing body of selected and wise men preferably elders, acting as the advisory body to the king.39 (Mhb - Udyoga 35, 58). Establishment of Janapada was as advance over Jana.

Nature of the ‘Janapada ’:

                                     The term ‘Janapada’ finds its first mention in the Brahmanas, Vedic literature and later Vedic literature, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and early Buddhist literature.

                                           ‘In the Mahabharata, Bhisma parva furnishes a list of about 230 Janapadas belonging to the contemporary India with a clear hint that their number was still higher. This list of the janapadas is the largest. The puranic list contains only about 170 Janapada names. The Ramayana does offer a list of the Janapada and the peoples of India40 The Mahabharata and the Puranas preserve list of the Janapadas of the various regions of India. The great epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana deal with the various aspects of Janapada life. A perusal of the literature mentioned above reveals certain dominant features of the Janapada which differentiate it from the ‘Jana ’. The following characteristic features ofthe Janapada deserve our consideration .

 Pura or the Capital City :

                                       The pura or the capital city occupied the most important position in the scheme of Janapada set up. It was surrounded by high defence walls made of stones and available material and fitted with defence arrangement over it.

                                                  ‘In the city were situated the royal palaces, the residences of the state dignitaries, the feudal lords and the common people of the four lVamas’. The capital city’s main gate and other subsidiary gates were prepared in accordance with the needs of city life and the metropolitan defence.’

 Fixed territory :

                        Along with the capital city, the Janapadas consisted of other areas which clustered around about it and composed of villages. It had a well-defined boundary and mixed population.

 Political Institutions :

                                  There emerged with Janapada, the political power passed in the hands of the rulers that belong to Ksatriya caste. The Janapada population was composed of two distinct classes - the citizens, having political right and the subject devoid ofsuch rights.

                                                       The word ‘Janapadin' stands for a citizen. ‘The governing class were called ‘Janapadins  The Buddhist literature knows of the 7707 citizens amongst the Lichchavis. The changes in the body-politic of the Janapada necessitated new institutions or changed the character and content of the old ones even if they persisted. Establishment of new states required strong military leadership and such successful leaders proved stronger and more powerful kings than the elected kings ofthe Jana.

                                                                          The ‘Samiti ’ in the Jana implied an assembly of equals, but the Janapada life was not based on equality and Samiti as such had no place m it.

                                                                         Sabha instead of being the assembly of elders and working under the Samiti changed into an assembly of citizens working under its own right.’ The Samiti was replaced by two other corporate association, the Paura and the Janapada, as the Janapada state was composed of two distinct territorial units : the pura or the capital city and Janapada or rest of the area of the state, having different problems of organization and administration.’

                                                        Two most important duties of the Sabha were to advise the king in monarchical janapadas and to place constitutional curbs on his arbitrary actions; second, to resolve matters of administration and emergency in the Ganas or the republican Janapadas Nature of Population : The population of the Janapada state was heterogeneous. Its most important class was the ruling Ksatriya class, having all political and governing rights. Apart from the citizens most of the population remained divided in the four Vamas : The Brahmanas, the Ksatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras.

 Janapada Liberty:

                            The Janapada was a self-sufficing political and cultural unit. Every Janapada had its god, its peculiar dialect, its own form of  government, its peculiar customs and manners and its sense of superiority. The Janapada was sovereign and independent and fought for it more or less to the end. Thus the ‘Janapada ’ states consisted of village and city tNigama’ or town was a market place and a term ‘pura' was often employed for towns originally meant for fortified settlements and locality. Fortifications enclosed urban settlements and separated it from surrounding areas. The city emerged as a trading centre as well as political centre and it housed emerging trading groups evolved from the rank of ‘gahapatis.’ It grew out of intersection of two highways. The main road became spine of urban centre linking them to rural areas. Normally, cities were surrounded by village and market places. Over the period of time, there was internal differentiation in Janapada and the term ‘Rashtra ’ replaced it. Inclusion of different clans castes, tribes and groups required controlling authority. 
                                                          ‘There were two different parts of authority and in ‘Gana-samghtf form of governmental authority and power was in the hands of Kshatriya families but in the monarchical form of government, especially in Magadha and Kosala powerful nonkshatriyas captured political power The Gana samgha’ polity represented the older form of political life and it was incapable of performing integrative functions ofthe state.

In this chapter, we have discussed Emergence of Janapada State in Ancient India, which arose during the post-Vedic period. In the Vedic period the rudimentary elements of republican government could be seen. The republics flourished in India from 700 B.C. to 400 A.D. and made great contribution to development of theory and practice of democracy in India. They cultivated the spirit offreedom in India

REFERENCES: 

1. Altekar A.S. - State and Govt, in Ancient India, pp. 121 and Mahabharata XII 81.29. 
2.Raychaudhari H.C. - Political History of Ancient India, University ofCalcutta, 1923, p. 73. 
3. Thapar Romila - A History of India, Vol. I Penguin Books, Reprinted 1992, p.24.