:No, I didn't say, ganatantra meant democracy.  (gana + tantra (system) is clearly the word for republic.)  What I said was that "ganarajya," is a calque of the English word "democracy" (i.e.  "rule of the people"), although it has come to mean "republic" in Hindi  As for whether "ganarajya" was imported into Hindi via either Kannada or Telegu, of course anything is possible, but according to McGregor the immediate source of a number of new Hindi words of the early 20th century was not Sanskrit itself, but Sanskritized Bengali of the late 19th- and early 20th century.  At any rate, I think Abecedare below seems to have a workable resolution.