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Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s19: Review

Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s19

Language
English

Review

c11.s19.1

The polity of the Mauryan empire was thus in part a culmination of the development of an indigenous tradition of imperialism which had begun to take shape under the Nandas and in part comprised wise borrowings and adaptations from contemporary foreign models, immediately Hellenistic, but ultimately traceable to the Achaemenid empire of Persia; the work of Kauṭilya which expounds the principles and describes the machinery of government was likewise based on the Indian tradition of the various schools of Arthaśāstra on the one side and on the known practice of foreign states on the other. Whatever was due to alien inspiration in Kauṭilya's system failed to take root; the Mauryan system of administration like Mauryan art was in some of its essentials an exotic—a parenthesis that broke the course of normal indigenous development; but both were splendid efforts marked by a considerable measure of success in their time. That Kauṭilya kept close to the fundamentals of Indian tradition is seen from his categorical statement that in order to be effective and successful, political power must command the support of the sacerdotal power besides having the sound advice of experienced statesmen at its disposal. He also gives to the welfare of the citizens the first place in all considerations of policy; the good of the people and their sustained happiness are the main ends for the service of which he rears up the elaborate administrative system briefly described above. He does not by any means overlook the supreme importance of the presence of an able, energetic and good monarch for the proper functioning of that system; that such rulers were not forthcoming after Aśoka was the tragedy of the Mauryan empire, as of all hereditary monarchies. Kauṭilya's ideal of good government is best seen from his exhortation to the king to place the happiness of the people above his own personal comfort, and feel that his happiness consists in their well-being.

c11.s19.2

*prajā sukhe sukhaṃ rājñaḥ prajānāṃ ca hite hitam I*
*nātmapriyaṃ hitaṃ rājñaḥ prajānāṃ tu priyaṃ hitam II*
"The hapiness of the subjects is the happiness of the king; their well-being, his. The king's welfare lies not in his own pleasure, but in that of his subjects."

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