A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c10.38

c10.38

dagger † Supra, pp. 96-91. A similar conception of the extraordinary importance of the king's office occurs in chapter LXVII of the Rāmāyaṇa. There we are told how after the exile of prince Rāma and the death of king Daśaratha the Brāhmaṇas and the ministers approached Vasiṣṭha, the family priest of the royal house of Ayodhyā. "The great king," said they, "is gone to heaven, Rāma again has betaken himself to the forest, the valiant Lakṣmaṇa also has accompanied Rāma. Both Bharata and Śatrughna have gone away to the city of Rājagriha in the Kaikeya kingdom to live in the delightful abode of their maternal uncle. Appoint a king over the Ikṣākus this very day, for this kingdom of ours would perish in the absence of a king." This prayer is supported by a passionate plea on behalf of monarchy. In a kingless State, it is said, the clouds do not sprinkle the earth with rain; the seeds are not sown; the son does not obey his father nor the wife her husband; there exists neither wealth nor family; truth does not prevail. There the Brāhmaṇa does not perform sacrifices, festivities and social gatherings do not take place; the girls decked with golden ornaments do not stroll to the gardens in the evening; the rich cultivators and herdsmen do not sleep with the doors of their houses unbarred; the merchants accustomed to wander long distances with rich wares do not travel with security; even the ascetic who is always in the habit of meditating on the Infinite Soul, does not stay; and the soldiers are powerless to defeat a foe. Such a kingdom is like a river without water, a forest without grass, and a herd of cattle without the herdsman. In such a kingdom nobody is one's own and the people constantly