Hindu Administrative Institutions c6.1

c6.1

AN endeavour is made here to trace the evolution and inter-relation of the state and society in ancient India as a preliminary to the study of administrative and political institutions which distinctly figure in ancient Indian literature. What is *daṇḍa nīti*? It is the science and machinery of government. Hindu texts dealing with the science and machinery of government are many and varied. They deal with recognized systems of constitutional practice in vogue then. In spite of nearly a century of research we are yet far from an authoritative text-book on the history of Hindu India. From the extant literature of the Hindus, *daṇḍa nīti* is understood as the science of Hindu administration dealing both with the function of government and the machinery of government. Ancient Indian writers on political science differ distinctly in one respect from modern ones. The political theorist and philosopher of to-day is concerned more with the machinery of government than with its function. The place assigned to the proper duties and functions of the state is rather meagre and inadequate; but this factor looms large in the political literature of the ancient Hindus. To them the machinery of government was not of much consequence. Still they did not neglect it, for the subject receives treatment, in the available literature on the *daṇḍa nīti*. Nevertheless the functions of government were considered a more important factor. Any slight deviation from the established duty which the state owes to the community at large was deemed an unrighteous act of government. Thus in a way the functions of administration might be said to have decided the machinery of government. From this it is not to be taken that both the function and the machinery were merged into one whole; on the other hand a sense of separateness was felt between the two concepts.