History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c11.8

v1.c11.8

Such remained the political condition of India in the seventh century. The king was absolute and possessed of despotic power unrestricted by the voice of any public assemblies. The kingdom and the people belonged to him, so to speak, as his private property. The kingdom naturally ceased to be called by the name of the people. Among the seventy or so kingdoms mentioned by Hiuen Tsang only a few bear the name of the people. The old names of Kuru, Pāñchāla, Anga, Vanga &c. are gone and we have the names of Thanesar, Kanauj, Karnasuvarna, Tamralipti and so on. They are names taken generally after the capital town or some physical feature of the country. The kings are not named after the people but after a Vanśa or family as the Vardhanas, the Maukharis, the Guptas and so on.