What we often forget in all this is that the Indian subcontinent was practicing republicanism long before the Roman republic arose. Ganarajya, in the times of yore, were ancient Indian republics.

The word Gana also means numbers and Ganarajya, therefore, means the rule of numbers or the rule of many. The Dharma Sutras and Dharma Shastras contain frequent references to Gana that seems to denote town or village corporations.