The Mauryan Polity c7.s5.t1: The enforcing of svadharma

The Mauryan Polity c7.s5.t1

Language: English

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||

Linked texts (1)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit