“Rajanya” word means ‘Royal inheritance’ and is one of the Kshatriya castes, in general. Purusha – Sukta of the Rigveda, where, dwelling upon the four fold division of the society, it is stated that the Brahmana sprang from the mouth of the primeval being (Purusha), the Rajanyas from his arms, the Vaisyas from his thighs and the Sudras from his feet. The word since then has constantly been in use in literature from the Rigvedic period. Rajanya was a tribe of Kshatriyas and also a Janapada as mentioned by Panini in the Mahabharata. Goddess Rajini-devi was the god of Rajanya Janapada. The Rajanyas reappear as a self-governing republican tribe about 100 B.C. about this period. Their coins were struck about this period.They bear the legend, Rajanyajanapadasa. They are found in Hoshiarpur district and Mathura, indicating their movement from the former region to the latter during this period of foreign invasions. One of their coins is die-struck and bears legend in Kharoshthi. It is closely allied to the North Satrap coins, bearing the same figure as the latter. From this coin Dr. Jayaswal deduced their final absorption in the Mathura satrapy. This deduction, however, is fallacious. It merely proves that up to 10 B.C., when they struck their last coins, they were independent, though for want of better skill, they had to imitate designs from those coins. After absorption they could not have retained the right of minting. Dr. Jaiswal has assumed the existence of another republican tribe in Panjab, namely, the Maharaja Janapada, on the basis of coins bearing the legend, Mahārāja-Janapadasa, in Brahmi as well as in Kharoshthi. But according to Allan this theory is based on an erroneous reading of the legend by Cunningham, on what really are Rajanya Janapada coins. Ancient coins show the complete features of bull Nandi like details of horns, face, eyes, body and tail. Jayaswal’s assertion that the Maharaja Janapada is mentioned by Paņini (IV. 1. 151) is also wrong. Neither the sutra nor the Ganapatha makes any reference to them, though of course Rajanya figures in his sutra. ‘Bull with crescent appears on the reverse of some of these coins, indicating that Saivism was the State religion of this section of the Rajanya people.
