________________
CHAPTER V
GANA IN HISTORY
1. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
We are, now, in a position to recapitulate the main characteristics of Gana. Fortunately, Atharvaveda preserves a faint recollection of these characteristics. Sāyaṇa includes the following passages of Atharvaveda into GanaKarmāņi; the functions of the Gana. Griffith translates the passages as follows :
"Intelligent, submissive, rest united, freindly and kind, bearing the yoke together. Come, speaking sweetly each one to the other.
I make you one-intentioned and one-minded. Let what you drink, your share of food be
common: together, with one common bond I bid you. Serve, Agni, gathered round him like the spokes
about the chariot nave.
With binding charm I make you all united.
obeying one sole leader and one-minded.""
The following two Ṛgvedic hymns also throw light upon the subject:
"To him I show my ten extended fingers. I speak the truth. No wealth am I withholding.""
"These, thy Gaņās, who stand before thee to distribute wealth, entertain towards us kindly intentions, offering unlimited riches: bright-born goddess, (who are) sincerely praised for (the gift of) horses."
These references disclose the real nature of the Gana. Gana was a unit; it was a human assemblage; a human
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
