State and Government in Ancient India c20.106

c20.106

¹ Manu may have put forth the theory of the state’s ownership of the entire land merely to find an argument for its claim to hidden treasures. The verse quoted by Bhaṭṭasvāmin may be interpreted merely as a general claim to all land and water; it may be compared to the sovereignty in land, sea and air, which is claimed by the modern state. Greek writers may have generalised from the crown lands. What was Yuan Chwang’s impression about the ownership of land is difficult to make out from his few observations at vol. I. p. 176