State and Society up to 1000 CE

How states grew from janas to mahajanapadas, Kautilya’s saptanga, the kingdoms of the south, local government, guilds and trade up to 1000 CE.

Key ideas

Kin-based janas settled into territories called janapadas, which grew into 16 mahajanapadas; Magadha became the most powerful.
Some mahajanapadas were kingdoms; others, the ganas or samghas, were republics run by assemblies.
Early assemblies were the sabha (smaller, dealing with justice) and the samiti (larger, discussing policy).
Kautilya’s saptanga names seven limbs of the state, and a council of ministers (the mantri-parishad) advised the king.
The Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas ruled the far south; Chola land was divided into mandalam, valanadu, nadu and ur.
The Uttaramerur inscription shows Chola villages choosing committee members by drawing palm-leaf names from a pot.
Guilds called shrenis organised crafts and trade and even took deposits; routes like Uttarapatha and ports like Muziris and Arikamedu carried trade.

Remember

Saptanga	king, ministers, territory, forts, treasury, army, allies
Southern emblems	Cholas: tiger; Cheras: bow; Pandyas: fish
Chola divisions, largest first	mandalam → valanadu → nadu → ur
Mauryan land tax	about one-sixth of the produce
Sudarshana Lake	a Mauryan reservoir in Gujarat, later repaired by Rudradaman I
Tripartite struggle	Gurjara-Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas, over Kannauj

Watch out

Mixing up the jana (the clan) and the janapada (the land where it settled).
Thinking every mahajanapada was a kingdom: the ganas or samghas were republics.
Taking a one-sixth tax as 6%: it is one part in six, so divide the harvest by 6.

Worked example

A farmer harvests 3,000 kg of grain. (a) How much is the Mauryan one-sixth tax? (b) How much is left? (c) If the family eats 450 kg, how much can be sold?

Working: 3,000 ÷ 6; − that; − 450

Answer: (a) 500 kg (b) 2,500 kg (c) 2,050 kg