The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c18.96

c18.96

The only form of government described in detail by the author was an absolute autocracy. He makes merely passing allusions to the existence of tribal organizations among the Lichchhavis and other communities.² The free will of the autocrat, uncontrolled by any constitutional traditions or machinery, was restricted to a certain extent by the customary reverence for Brahmans, which was well established even at that early date. As a rule, Brahmans were exempt from capital punishment, the only exception being that a Brahman convicted of high treason might be executed by drowning, instead of being burnt alive as a member of another caste should be.¹ Brahmans convicted of certain other offences might be branded in the face, and then either banished or sent to the mines for life. Both Brahmans and ascetics were exempt from liability to judicial torture for the purpose of extracting a confession.²