Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s3.82

c8.s3.82

¹ The greatness of Indian culture lies in having realized the principle of communalism. According to Western economic thought, the state, private property and competition are the three necessary conditions which guide the economic life and the activity of society. The consequence is a disordered equilibrium between labour and capital, or in other words incessant class conflicts. Ways and means have been suggested to avoid this phenomenon by great writers and thinkers. Socialism, communism, syndicalism, guild socialism and bolshevism are given their due consideration to ameliorate the present social and economic conditions. These would not bear fruit for the principles guiding these socialistic states are again appropriation and exploitation. But communalism with a decentralized policy as it was practised in ancient India is the remedy. The economic purpose was truly served by dividing the society into a number of castes or class groups. The liberty of the individual or parentalism of the state as we understand it to-day are not its necessary adjuncts. But social and political groups in towns and villages co-operated with the central state which resulted in creation and distribution as against the principles of appropriation and exploitation.