Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Mauryan Polity c7.s5: Sec. v. Duties of the King

The Mauryan Polity c7.s5

Language
English

Contents

Sec. v. Duties of the King

c7.s5.1

“In ancient India Government never signified mere police work. . . The Hindu conceived of the Government’s function as comprising in its entirety the whole of protective and disciplinary measures, in addition to active duties necessary for ensuring the subject a proper realisation of his material ideals in human existence.”¹ Besides the general routine of duties in the daily life of the king there were more onerous and more responsible duties which the monarch was expected to execute and fulfil.

c7.s5.2

¹ N. C. Bandyopādhyāya, *Kauṭilya*, p. 107.

The enforcing of svadharma

c7.s5.t1.1

First among them was the enforcing of *svadharma* on the subjects of the state by regulations in regard to the practices, laws of castes and orders, according to the rules laid down in the Vedic literature.² The king was to see that people of different denominations pursued their own avocations without in any way interfering with the professions of others and thus not transgressing the established laws of the realm. The object of the maintenance of this social polity was the general welfare of the citizens at large. Need it be told that the insistence of the healthy principle of *svadharma* (doing one’s own duty) avoided competitive impulses, and ensured the existence of the weak, side by side with the strong. In other words, the struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest were unknown to that system of Hindu social polity.

c7.s5.t1.2

² tasmāt svadharmam bhūtānām rājā na vyabhicārayet| svadharmair saṃdhadhāno hi pretya cātra ca nandati|| vyavasthitāryamaryādaḥ kṛtavarṇāśramastithiḥ| trayyā hi rakṣito lokaḥ prasīdati na sīdati|| —Bk. I, ch. iii. caturvarṇāśrmo loko rājñā daṇḍena pālitaḥ| svadharmakarmābhirato vartate sveṣu vartmasu||

Protection of life and property

c7.s5.t2.1

Secondly, the state aimed at the *yogakṣema* of its citizens. This is protection of life and property as we understand it to-day. Hence the king is entitled as the *lokayātrārthi*. Progress of the world largely depends on the administration of the land by the king.¹ This is by the proper exercise of *daṇḍa* which is punishing the wicked and the wrong-doer, thus enabling the individual citizens to pursue their avocations in peace, undisturbed. In the conduct of his administration the king looked upon all people, of whatever caste or community, equally and impartially.²

c7.s5.t2.2

¹ *Ar. śās.* Bk. I, Ch. 4.

c7.s5.t2.3

² *sarvabhūta hite rataḥ*—*Ibid.*, I, Ch. 5. See N. C. Bandyopadhyāya, *Development of Hindu Polity and Political Theories*; Pt. I (Cal. 1927), p. 295-ff.

Promotion of trade and commerce

c7.s5.t3.1

Thirdly, promotion of agriculture and commerce was a function that devolved on the king. If the king and his council felt that a certain part of the empire was harassed by the enemy chieftains, and was subject to intermittent epidemics and famines, then the people were asked to emigrate to some other fertile region and there to settle in comfortable lodgings specially built. Much attention was bestowed on the development of agriculture. Arrangements were made to see that the livestock was free from cattle-lifters, wild animals and diseases peculiar to them. The king was to guarantee safety and security of commercial and trade routes, for the latter are liable to disturbance from chief herdsmen, labourers, thieves, and boundary guards. In this way the king was to protect timber-forests, elephant-forests, dams, and embankments.¹

c7.s5.t3.2

¹ *Ar. śās.* Bk. II, Ch. 1 and 34.

Proper administration of justice

c7.s5.t4.1

It was again his duty to see that justice was properly administered so that there would be no violation of the rules and laws established. Hence the king is called *dharma-pravartaka*.² Proper protection and impartial justice, it is said, find to the king the abode of heaven. In meting out justice, a king should make no distinction between his son and an enemy.³ In a word, punishment was to be regulated according to the gravity of the offence.⁴

c7.s5.t4.2

² *Ibid.*, Bk. III, Ch. 1.

c7.s5.t4.3

³ *Ibid.*

c7.s5.t4.4

⁴ *Ibid.*, Bk. IV, Ch. 4 and 10.

State and sannyāsins

c7.s5.t5.1

Yet another function of the king was to watch the conduct as well as the movements of the ascetics as a class. Though Kauṭalya mentions in several places that due regard must be shown to ascetics, and preference must be given to cases touching them, yet unrighteous proceedings by them were not to be tolerated. Because they were Sannyāsins and consequently honoured by the state, they could not abuse their privilege. Any such abuse, wilful or improper, was dealt with. Fines were the usual form of punishment. It was realised that such improper conduct on the part of the Sannyāsin would be not only a negation of righteousness but the predominance of vice which, according to the author of the Arthaśāstra, would tend in the long run to be a source of harm to the king.¹

c7.s5.t5.2

¹ Bk. III, Ch. 16. Cp. Kauśāmbi Pillar-Edict: Allahabad-Kośam and Sāmchi Pillar where Aśoka refers to the nature of punishment to monks and nuns. Corpus, pp. 159-160.

Protection from calamities

c7.s5.t6.1

The king was further to protect the land from national calamities including providential visitations. The latter are mentioned to be fire, floods, epidemics, famines, rats, wild animals, serpents, and demons. In these cases the king was expected to take precautionary measures and try to avert the visitations of such calamities. For prevention is better than cure. But if such untoward things happened it was for the monarch to rectify them with proper remedial measures. These measures included the propitiation of supernatural forces, and the performance of magical and religious rites. The belief was that such prayers would tend to minimise the evil effects of such an outbreak. In conclusion it is said that the king should ever protect the afflicted among his subjects as a father would his sons.²

c7.s5.t6.2

² Bk. IV, ch. 3; Bk. VIII, ch. 4; Bk. IX, ch. 7.

Foreign policy

c7.s5.t7.1

Another important function of the king was the conduct of foreign policy. The king who was generally a member in the circle of sovereign states, consisting of enemies, allies, and neutrals, should endeavour to attain the state of stagnation from that of deterioration, and in the end to the state of progress. This stage was to be reached by pursuing six different forms of state policy of which the primary forms, according to Vātavyādhi, are peace and war. It is thus prescribed: “A wise king shall pursue that form of policy which according to his knowledge will enable him to construct fortresses and other buildings, lay out traderoutes, open possibilities of colonisation, exploit mines and timber and elephant forests, and at the same time create disturbance to the similar works of his enemy.”¹ It is also laid down that “enemies from enemies, subjects from subjects, should ever be guarded, and both from his subjects and enemies a learned man should ever guard his own person.”²

c7.s5.t7.2

¹ Ar. śās., Bk. III, Ch. 1. ² pare parebhyassve svebhyaḥ sve parebhyassvataḥ pare| rakṣyāssvebhyaḥ parebhyaśca nityamātmā vipaścitā|| —Bk. IX, ch. 3. ³ See for details the chapter entitled *nāgarakapraṇidhi* in the *Arthaśāstra* bālavṛddhavyādhitavyasanyanāthāmśca rājā bibhṛyāt Bk. II, Ch. I ācāryāvidyāvantaśca pūjavetanāni yathārham labheran, pañcaśatāvaram sahasraparam| ⁴ See *Second Rock Edict*, *Corpus*, Girnār, p. 3.

c7.s5.t7.3

*Promotion of arts, education, etc*

c7.s5.t7.4

The king as the chief representative of the state attended also to the social and socialistic functions, such as promotion of arts and education, health and sanitation, medical aid and poor relief, and other charitable acts and deeds.³ Hospitals, rest-houses, donations, grants to learning and learned men, and maintenance of the widow, the orphan and the helpless were some of the institutions which came under this category.⁴

Linked texts (2)