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State and Government in Ancient India c8.s3: Other Original Sources

State and Government in Ancient India c8.s3

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Other Original Sources

c8.s3.1

Apart from the works on Nītiśāstra, there are a number of other books in Sanskrit, Pali and Prākṛita literatures that incidentally throw light on the science of polity. As shown already, (p. 5) a number of hymns in the *Ṛigveda* and the *Atharvaveda* and passages in the *Śātapatha*, *Aitareya*, *Taittirīya* and *Pañchaviṁśa Brāhmaṇas* are very valuable to the student of the subject. The importance of these passages is considerably enhanced by the circumstance that they refer to an early period when the literature on polity and administration had not yet come into existence. The Dharmasūtras and Smṛitis have usually important sections dealing with the duties of kings and the working of administration; these, however, are usually written from the religious viewpoint. A few chapters on these topics occur in some Purāṇas; but they usually summarise the Smṛiti views and are not therefore very important: Works like the *Pratijñāyaugandharāyaṇa*, the *Raghuvaṁśa* and the *Mālavikāgnimitra*, the *Pañchatantra*, the *Hitopadeśa*, the *Kādambarī*, the *Harshacharit*, the *Daśakumāracharit* and the *Rājātaraṅgiṇī* have important though often small passages giving us a valuable glimpse into the contemporary political theory or administration.

c8.s3.2

The *Āchāraṅgasūtra* (in Prākṛita) and the *Digghanikāya*, the *Chullavagga*, the *Divyāvadāna* and the *Jātakas* in Pāli have important passages throwing light especially on the nature and working of ancient Indian republics.

c8.s3.3

Stone and copper inscriptions of ancient India are an extremely important source of information to the student of the political science, though unfortunately they have not yet been adequately utilised by the previous writers on the subject. Being written by the court poets, they sometimes give an idealistic picture, but a discerning student can well differentiate between the courtly praise and prosaic facts. To a very great extent the inscriptions represent the actual state of affairs in the government machinery of the different administrations and enable us to ascertain facts and aspects sometimes altogether neglected in the works on Nītiśāstra. They are very useful in acquiring a correct picture of the territorial divisions and the official heirarchy of the different administrations. They give us a valuable insight into the taxation prevailing under different dynasties, when they enumerate the taxes from which the donees were exempted. They give us a graphic idea of the inter-state relations, as also of the relation between the suzerain and his feudatories. They often enunciate interesting maxims about the aims and ideals of government and the duties of kings and responsibilities of ministers. The reader of the following pages can easily visualise the important part they play in enabling us to get a realistic picture of ancient Indian administration.

c8.s3.4

The accounts of Greek historians, especially relating to the the invasion of Alexander the Great, are very valuable for getting a glimpse into city states and republics. Megasthenes' *Indica*, though fragmentary, is of very great value to the student of the Mauryan administration.

c8.s3.5

Numismatics or the science of coins is also not without some value to the student of polity. The coin legends often disclose the existence of a number of city states, not otherwise known to us. The existence of the republican constitutions of the Śibis, the Mālavas, the Arjunāyanas, the Kuṇidas, the Yaudheyas and the Lichchhavis is proved or confirmed by coin legends.

c8.s3.6

The sources above enumerated have now enabled us to fill a number of gaps in our knowledge of ancient Indian polity. We can give a tolerably realistic and comprehensive picture of the subject in the following pages.

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