Hindu Administrative Institutions c6.s1.18

c6.s1.18

¹ *Rāja Dharma*, chap. lxvi. 18-30. There are then two schools with different traditions, one describing Manu as the first king, and the other Pṛthu as the first king. At first sight it would appear that the two accounts are contradictory. Both of them agree in the theory of an original state of nature when the laws of nature were highly respected and adhered to. The original state of nature became in course of time transformed into the Hobbesian state when on appeal the Creator appointed Pṛthu to rule over the earth for the preservation of social *sthiti* (well being) according to *Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra* and other texts. After the lapse, perhaps, of several centuries commencing with Pṛthu, there again set in a state of anarchy, another form of the state of nature when the practice of *mātsyanyāya* held sway in the realm of mankind. It was so