The Colas c12.14

c12.14

The king was in all essential respects an autocrat, whose autocracy was tempered by the maxims of the wise and the occasional intercession of the minister. The sphere of the state’s activity was, however, very limited, and in a society where respect for ancestral custom was very deep-rooted, even the most perverse of autocrats could not have done much harm; and it must be owned that the general impression left on the mind by the literature of the age is one of contentment on the part of the people who were proud of their kings and loyal to them. The great author of the *Kuraḷ*, much of whose work is devoted to a systematic treatment of the affairs of state, may be accepted as a safe guide to the prevailing theory of the time; and theory is never so completely divorced from practice that we can make no inferences from the one regarding the other. No better method can be availed of to understand the nature of Tamil monarchy in this period than to discuss some of the salient statements of Tiruvaḷḷuvar on the subject. He warns kings, for instance, against the corrupting influence of unlimited power, saying:²⁰