[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) › c9.26 # State and Government in Ancient India c9.26 State and Government in Ancient India c9.26 - **Language:** English ### [c9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c9.26) It is now generally recognised that the contract theory of the origin of government is bad history and worse logic; it can no doubt explain the origin of a particular form of state among people who have already developed governmental institutions, but it cannot explain how the first agreement took place among the members of a community, which was still in the state of nature. Contract is possible only in a society where mutual rights and obligations are respected, and this is obviously impossible in a society where the law of the jungle prevails. - [Previous: c9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c9.25) - [Next: c9.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c9.27) - [Up: c9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.altekar-1949.c9.26) · Pramāṇa