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Under the Banner


Indian polity of the early ancient times was comprised of clans, settlements and tribes referred as Kula, Visha and Jana respectively.[1] Several clans formed a settlement and its patriarchs elected a leader amongst themselves. Similarly these leaders of settlements elected amongst them a king called Rajana.[2] The kingdom got its name after the ruling clan and hence we find words like Kuru, Puru, Ikshvaku and so on. A kingdom had many clans which united and fought wars under the banner of their ruler's clan. There were countless banners of countless tribes who waged war for suzerainty over other tribes and their lands. Change in situation, diplomacy and agreements led to breaking up of these alliances of houses. A region that came under the banner of a house or a tribe at a point in time went to some other house or tribe when loyalty and public mood shifted. If you could go to a certain region you could see who is controlling it just by looking at its flag. Does not this sound familiar?

Now welcome to modern India, a multicultural and multi-partisan democratic republic. A system which is still more like its ancient past, where there are some royal houses that monopolise the position as chief of their political party through support of its feudalistic members. Basically the Indian democracy is more like an electoral aristocracy with several monarchical tribes. Every tribe has a dynasty and a banner. Members of a tribe or party are loyal to its ruling house. These several tribes or parties form and collapse a political alliance depending on the situations that suits them. Although there are some claiming to be based on an ideology, but ultimately the nucleus of the party lies in one family just like it did in an ancient Jana. A few exceptions are like the ancient Gana, where a group of people govern instead of one family.[3] Otherwise it is pretty much the same. Except for now, instead of battles we have elections, and transfer of power is a lot peaceful than how it was then.  But you can still know which tribe has domain over your area just by looking at the flags on the streets. After all, it is quite impossible to change a political tradition that existed for so many centuries. As the year 2019 comes we will once again have a chance to elect a tribe of our choice to become the suzerain of the subcontinent for next five years. Choose wisely. Jai Hind!


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1. Altekar, Anant, Sadashiv. State and Government in Ancient India. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publication, 2002) Page 76
2. Ibid Page 81
3. Ibid Page 109, 114
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