State and Government in Ancient India c24.2

c24.2

We have now finished our survey of the Ancient Indian Polity. We have studied its different features and surveyed the administrative systems under the different dynasties. We shall now proceed to form a general estimate about the merits and limitations of the Ancient Indian Polity. While doing so, we shall take an impartial standpoint. We should not however forget that ancient thought and institutions cannot be judged by standards then not known anywhere. We shall have to make due allowance for the circumstances and surroundings in which the ancient Indian polity and thought were developed and then form our estimate about them. We shall also discuss the lessons taught by our general survey and estimate; the study of the past becomes more useful and interesting, if it can be made to bear on some of the problems of the present as well.