State and Government in Ancient India c10.19

c10.19

The seven constituents of the state are regarded as the limbs (*aṅgas*) of the body politic by the Indian thinkers. Some of them like the king and the ministers may be more prominent than others like the forts and the allies.¹ Each limb, however, though by itself it may look unimportant, is indispensable to the body politic, for its functions cannot be efficiently discharged by any other.² The state can exist and function properly only if all the limbs of its body politic become mutally integrated and cooperate with each other.³ No limb of the body politic can strictly be regarded as more important than any other. The body politic cannot stand if one of them is missing, just as three sticks poised properly against one another will collapse, if one of them is taken away.⁴