A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c10.45

c10.45

It will appear from the above that the theories of the origin of kingship as conceived by the authors with whom we are now dealing, were anti-popular in their origin, their object being, in other words, to support as against the anarchical tendencies of the theory of contract the principle of the king's authority. Let us consider these theories in some detail. The Manusamhitā describes the origin of kingship in the briefest outline. "For when these creatures being without a king dispersed in all directions, the Lord created a king for the protection of this whole (creation), taking (for that purpose) eternal particles of Indra, of the Wind, of Yama, of the Sun, of Fire, of Varuṇa, of the Moon, and of the Lord of Wealth (Kubera)."† This passage, it will be observed, begins with a reference to an original evil state of nature. But the author, instead of considering this like the earlier writers as the prelude to a contract between the people and a human or a semi-divine being, introduces the Highest God as Himself creating the king out of His own will. The king, then, according to this view is, so far from being an official paid by the people for the service of protection, ordained by God to rule over his subjects. His rule, in short, rests not upon agreement but upon Divine ordination. The further bearing of the above passage upon the doctrine of the king's divinity will be more conveniently treated in another place.