Hindu Administrative Institutions c6.s4.1

c6.s4.1

It was further realized that the state alone was not enough to attain the three aims of life. It required an efficient social organization as well. It would appear from the scanty evidence available at present that people lived originally in groups or tribes, and as time went on, the necessity for defence and the increase of numbers led to amalgamation among tribes and the introduction of a civil order of society. When people once realized the necessity for an organized society they set about framing codes and regulations which were binding upon the members of the society. To keep it progressive the social order was based on the double division in the four castes and the four orders (or the stages of life). It was a system of social polity known by the term *varṇāśrama dharma*. Whatever may be the suitability or otherwise of these institutions to modern times, they served their purpose very well for several centuries. This was because the system was based on well-grounded scientific and economic principles. The four classes included first the group of philosophers and teachers; secondly the group of rulers and warriors; thirdly the group of agriculturists and traders, and lastly the group of men engaged in different menial services. It was realized that real progress lay in hereditary professions and it was considered wrong for members of one community to encroach on the functions of another. *Daṇḍa nīti* came forward with restraints and restrictions which could keep society going. The new society evolved, according to necessity, laws which became fixed. Life in society further involved the principle that every member should conduct himself according to the law established. The ideal preached was ‘better to observe one's own *dharma* though devoid of good qualities than adopt that of others. Better to die in following one's own *dharma* for the *dharma* of another is fraught with fear.'¹