Page:Corporate Life in Ancient India.djvu/22

2 was a marked feature in almost all fields of activity in ancient India and was manifest in social and religious as well as in political and economic life. The well-known 'Jāti' (caste) and the Saṁgha (the community of the Buddhist monks) are the most notable products of this spirit in the first two spheres of life. The same spirit, however, played an equally important part in the remaining ones, and its effect may be seen typified in Gaṇa (political corporation) and Śreṇi (guild).

Besides throwing light upon the corporate activities in public life in ancient India, the following study is also calculated to broaden our views in another respect. The account of the remarkable achievements in various spheres of life will enable us to take a true perspective view of the activities of the people in ancient India. It will establish beyond doubt that religion did not engross the whole or even an undue proportion of the public attention and that the corporate activity manifested in this connection was by no means an isolated factor, but merely one aspect of that spirit which pervaded all other spheres of action.

So far as I am aware, the subject as a whole has not been hitherto treated by any writer. Separate topics like 'Saṁgha' and 'Gaṇa' have no doubt been dealt with by scholars, but their mutual relation, from the point of view I