State and Government in Ancient India c10.s3: The Influence of Religious Concepts on Polity
State and Government in Ancient India c10.s3
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The Influence of Religious Concepts on Polity
c10.s3.1
The influence of theological, religious and philosophical concepts on Hindu polity may be briefly noticed here. The concept of Dharma as the ultimate and supreme power was responsible for the king being struck by the Dharmadanda thrice on the occasion of his coronation; it was also responsible for the exhortation to him to lead his whole life as dedicated to duty, *dhṛitavrata*. The duties of the king were conceived as Rājadharna. The violation of Dharma was ultimately punishable by God. So the king became ultimately accountable to God, who was to punish him in a suitable manner; our political writers therefore usually did not encourage the subjects to seek to punish the king for his delinquencies. This concept of the supremacy of Dharma prevented the development of a reasoned philosophy of the rights of the people or opposition to tyranny.
c10.s3.2
The doctrine of Karman also has left some influence on the polity. At one stage of its development this doctrine believed in the possibility of an individual’s *karman* being transferrable to another; the political thinkers therefore regarded it as possible for the sages to pay off their dues to the state by transferring one sixth of their *punya* or merit to it. The threat that was held out to the king that if he misgoverned, the sin of the crimes of the subjects would be visited on him was also another corollary of the same doctrine. The usual view however was that a person reaps as he sows; this was responsible for the threat of a long sojourn in hell held before a vicious king or a false witness. Three days’ respite that Aśoka had granted to condemned criminals was for the purpose of enabling them or their relations to undertake pious acts, so that the criminals may benefit by them after their execution.
c10.s3.3
The theory of the supremacy of the moral order suggested the ideal of a moral state which should have no sinners or thieves among its subjects. It was also responsible for the enunciation of the code of righteous war, *dharma-yuddha*, which was followed to some extent at one stage of our history. The state was to strive for the realisation of the moral and religious ideals along with those in the spheres of social and economic life. It was thus to secure both the moral and material development of the people and the country.
c10.s3.4
The theory that God is omnipresent and is the giver of all good things has left its own influence here and there on the polity. The *Gītā* preaches that whatever is preeminent, striking or brilliant is particularly surcharged with the Divine Presence and illustrates the point by recognising the divinity in the king.
c10.s3.5
Alternatively the king began to be regarded as Divine Guardian. When the theory of incarnation became popular, the king was regarded as an incarnation of Vishṇu. Some kings (e.g. king Gautamīputra of the Bhita seal, *c.* 1st century A. D.) regarded their kingdom as a gift from God; other states like the republic of the Yaudheyas regarded themselves as presided over by their favourite deity like Kārtikeya, though there is no evidence to show that the rulers in these cases regarded themselves as agents of God. All this was a natutal consequence of regarding God as the giver of all good things and protector of all good persons or states.
c10.s3.6
The gospel of *Aparigraha* is responsible for the ideal of self-denial placed before the king. The freedom from taxation that was conceded to pious and poor Brāhmaṇas was due to the view that those who practised *aparigraha* should not be made to bear avoidable economic burdens.
c10.s3.7
The Vedāntic doctrine that soul is identical with or similar to God should have led to the spread of the doctrine of social, economic and legal equality. Strangely enough this did not happen. The theory that every thing here is Brahman was effectively counterpoised by the gospel of the caste system, which permitted social and economic inequalities. Buddhism is sometimes assumed (though quite wrongly) to be opposed to the caste system; but in the Lichchhavi republic which was under marked Buddhist influence, there were sharp economic and political inequalities.
c10.s3.8
To conclude, we have to admit that religious and philosophical dogmas and concepts did not deeply influence the Hindu political thought, practice or institutions.