Hindu Administrative Institutions c6.s2.5

c6.s2.5

As in the *Mahābhārata* so also in the *Manusmṛti* the word ‘*arājaka*’ equates with *mātsya nyāya*.¹ The conception of the law-giver is that in states where government ceases to be, all people live in perpetual dread. In the absence of *daṇḍa* or *daṇḍadhara* the strong would devour the weak as the spike, the fishes.²