Gana-Sangha or Gana-Rajya, refers to a type of republic or oligarchy in ancient India.The compound term gana-sangha has a connotation of gana-those claiming equal status and sangha-an assembly. These were the systems, where the heads of families of a clan governed the territory of the clan through an assembly. In some cases, a few clans formed a confederacy, where the chiefs of all the clans constituted an assembly to govern the territory of the confederate clans.