State and Government in Ancient India c15.130

c15.130

Let us now see how far ministers conformed to this high standard in actual practice. When weak, vicious and fickleminded kings were on the throne, ministers selected by them were often worthless sycophants. Thus in Kashmir king Unmattāvanti is known to have selected his ministers from among musicians, and king Chakravarman from among the *dombas*, who were the relations of his newest love. Probably the same was the case under the rulers like Bṛihaspatimitra Maurya, Devabhūmi Śuṅga, Govinda IV Rāshtrakūṭa, and other rulers of their type who were weak, vicious and wicked. Such cases, however, were occasional and did not frequently disfigure the administration. A perusal of the epigraphical and literary evidence shows that effort was usually made to select capable persons, well-versed in the political science. Śāba, a minister of Chandragupta II, is expressly described as well grounded in the science of politics and reasoning.³ Nārāyaṇa, a minister of Rāshtrakūṭa king Kṛishṇa III, is known to have been a pastmaster in the political science.¹ Nāgarasa, the premier of the Yādava ruler Kṛishṇa, was a statesman whose intellect had become versatile owing to the study of various works on the science of polity.² We can well conclude that in normal cases ministers were appointed only when they were known to be well versed in the theory and practice of administration and political science.