The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c28.167

v1.c28.167

In the monarchies the king controls the whole administration, and by his spies⁵ keeps watch upon every part of it. He is recommended⁶ to check his officials by division and frequent change of functions. Nevertheless, the Indian king is no sultan with the sole obligation of satisfying his personal caprice. The origin of royalty is the growth of wickedness and the necessity of chastisement, the virtue of which the Indian writers celebrate with a real enthusiasm¹. It is as guardian of the social (including domestic and religious) order and defence against anarchical oppression that the king is entitled to his revenue; failing to perform this duty, he takes upon himself a corresponding share of the national sin². Educated in these precepts among a moralising people, he would have been more than human had he escaped the obsession of this conception of his duties. Hence we not seldom hear on royal, as well as on priestly, lips the expression that the king should be the father of his people³.