State and Government in Ancient India c10.s5: Distribution of Functions

c10.s5.1

In the modern state, the executive, the legislative and the judicial powers and functions are usually distributed in different bodies. In theory the king in ancient India was like the President of the new Indian Republic, the final source of all the executive, legislative and judicial powers. In actual practice, however, the situation differed from age to age. In Vedic age, it would appear that the Samiti or the Parliament shared the executive powers with the king; in some cases it could overrule him also. The king was the supreme judicial functionary in ancient India from the post-Vedic period; but in actual practice considerable powers were delegated to the local popular courts or Panchāyats. Kings and Government officers usually declined to entertain a suit at first instance. The Parliament or the popular assembly disappeared as an effective body in the post-Vedic period; this led to the increase in the influence and authority of the king in executive and administrative matters. Legislation in the modern sense of the term was not the function of the Samiti in ancient India; laws, if secular, were sanctioned by custom and if religious, by the sacred texts. For a very long time the Ancient Indian State used to enforce laws which were not formally approved by any limb of its body politic. The scheme of taxation also was usually the one approved by the usage of the land, as codified in the Smṛitis. The Smṛitis however permitted a considerable variation in the incidence of taxation; the land tax could be anything between 12 to 33%. The actual amount of the tax could thus be varied by the executive, which usually meant the king and the officers appointed by him and holding office during his pleasure. There is sufficient evidence to show that kings soon began to claim the power to make ordinances if not laws; Śukra expressly concedes this power to the king. With the disappearance of the Parliament or Samiti, the executive, the judicial and the legislative powers (as far as they could be exercised by the state) tended to be concentrated in the hands of the king and the ministry nominated by him. The village councils and town corporations, which were largely popular bodies, could successfully contest with the king to some extetnt in the exercise of the judicial, executive and taxation powers in the limited sphere of their jurisdiction, during the Gupta and post-Gupta period.