State and Government in Ancient India c12.s8.4

c12.s8.4

Religious and spiritual sanctions had the greatest terror in ancient India and our constitutional writers have made full use of them in order to curb the tyrannical tendency. The king, who oppresses his subjects or misappropriates public funds, is guilty of dereliction of duty; Varuṇa, the chastiser of kings, would punish him severely. If a king levied an unjust fine, he was to offer thirty times that amount to Varuṇa as a fine by himself.¹ The threat of hell was also there, and it served as a great deterrent in ancient times.