A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c10.49

c10.49

The story of the origin of kingship that we have just described connects itself historically with the individual figuring in Kauṭilya's version of the king's creation. The other story to which we have now to turn our attention is associated with the person who was remembered in Vedic tradition as the first consecrated ruler of men.∗ In chapter LIX of the Śāntiparvan Yudhiṣṭhira is introduced as asking Bhīṣma two distinct questions, which are substantially as follows. How did the title of 'king' (rājan) come into existence, and why does one man rule over persons of great intelligence and valour, although he has the same physical organs and mental attributes, is subject to the same changes of birth and death and is equal in all respects to the others ? The answer to these questions involves a complete account of the creation of the king's office and of the basis of his rule over his subjects. For the moment we are concerned with the former point alone. There was at first, says the hero, neither sovereignty nor sovereign, neither punishment nor punisher (naiva rājyam na rājāsinna cha daṇḍo na dāṇḍikaḥ). At that time the people used to govern themselves by means of Justice or Righteousness (dharma). Afterwards however they became completely worn out and were assailed successively by the vices of intoxication, greed, wrath and self-indulgence. The world was disturbed, and the Vedas as well as Justice perished. The gods were affrighted, and they sought the protection of the Lord Brahmā. The great God created for their sake and for the good of the world a gigantic treatise consisting of one hundred thousand chapters which treated the fourfold end of life—virtue, wealth, desire and salvation. This was called Daṇḍanīti and became the archetype out of which successive summaries were prepared by the gods Śiva and Indra and the sages Brihaspati and Śukra. Thereafter the gods approached Viṣṇu and implored Him to select a person deserving to occupy the highest place (śraiṣṭhyam) among mortals. The great God created by a fiat of his will a son produced out of his own lustre. This person however did not desire sovereignty, and he treated his authority as a trust (nyāsa). His fourth successor became skilled in policy and protected the people, while the next gained an empire, and became self-indulgent. Then came Veṇa who was killed by the angry sages for his tyranny. Out of his right arm, pierced by the great sages, came forth Prithu, handsome, fully armed, skilled in the Vedas and in the science of archery. He was enjoined by the gods and the great sages to follow the established laws (dharma) without fear or favour, and with strict control of his passions. The gods and the sages, moreover, proposed to him an oath (pratijñā) which he accepted in the following terms, “I will constantly protect the earth in thought, word and deed, as if it were Brahman. I will carry out the established laws in accordance with daṇḍanīti. I will never act arbitrarily. The twice—born classes shall never be punished by me and the world shall be saved from the danger of inter-mixture of classes.” Prithu was consecrated by the Brāhmaṇas and the sages as well as by the gods including Viṣṇu Himself. He was called king (rājan) because all his subjects were gratified (rañjitāḥ) by him, and he earned the title of Kṣatriya as he healed the wounds of the Brāhmaṇas. The eternal God Viṣṇu in person established his status by declaring that no one would transcend him. The divine Viṣṇu, moreover, entered the person of the king, and hence the whole universe worships the kings as if they are gods.∗