State and Government in Ancient India c19.s2.5

c19.s2.5

In the ancient period India regarded her law (*dharma*) as sacred in origin as did ancient Greece, but it was substantially based upon custom ; it cannot be described as institutionalisation of the selfish interests of the Brāhamaṇas and Kshatriyas. Dharma of ancient India was not consciously made by law-givers or by a ligislature ; it was generally enforced by social approval or the dread of hell and not by the force of the state. It was not static ; it however changed not by the arbitrary will of a king nor the noisy method of legislation but by the slow and prolonged process of change in social customs and practices.