[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [State and Government in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949) › c19.5 # State and Government in Ancient India c19.5 State and Government in Ancient India c19.5 - **Language:** English ### [c19.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.5) In India also we find that an authority like the \*Manusmṛiti\* recognising the use of the force, strategem and \*dharaṇa\* by the plaintiff as a normal means of redress, even when the law courts had been established.¹ Even a jurist like Nārada disapproves of force only when the claim is doubtful and the king's permission is not taken previously.² The wergeld which the Dharma-sūtras (\*c.\* 400 B. C.) prescribe for the murder of the different classes of individuals also shows that for a long time even murders were not regarded as offences against the state but as simple torts, where mere compensation had to be given to the relations of the party murdered. - [Previous: c19.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.4) - [Next: c19.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.6) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c19.5) · Pramāṇa