The Mauryan Polity c6.s3.t4: The Circle of States
The Mauryan Polity c6.s3.t4
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The Circle of States
c6.s3.t4.1
The above outline is not incompatible with the description in the Kauṭalīya where the theory of a circle of states is promulgated with instructions in detail. We have heard of the maṇḍala theory and the maṇḍala policy from other literature, but until the discovery of the Arthaśāstra one did not know the exact details by means of which the maṇḍala policy was put in actual practice. It is in later literature known as the dvādaśa-rāja-maṇḍala. The conqueror, his ally and ally's ally are the three chief monarchs who constituted a circle of states. This is said to be the conqueror's circle of states. The three monarchs comprising this particular maṇḍala possessed respectively the five elements of sovereignty,—namely, the minister, the territory, the fortress, the treasury, and the army. Thus a circle of states consists of eighteen elements, the fifteen of the three states, and their kings.¹
c6.s3.t4.2
¹ vijigīṣurmitram mitramitram vā asya prakṛtayastisraḥ| tāḥ pañcabhiramātyajanapadadurga kośadaṇḍaprakṛtibhirekaikaśaḥ samyuktā maṇḍalamaṣṭādaśakam bhavati| anena maṇḍalapṛthaktvam vyākhyātam arimadhyamōdāsīnānām| evam caturmaṇḍalasaṃkṣepaḥ| dvādaśa rājaprakṛtayaḥ; ṣaṣṭirdravyaprakṛtayaḥ; saṃkṣepeṇa dvisaptatihi| —*Arthaśāstra*, Bk. VI, ch. ii.
Linked texts (1)
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit