A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3.134

c8.s3.134

We may next consider two other passages of the Buddhist canon which are chiefly important as bringing, for the first time, so far as we are aware, a new type of constitution within the ken of Hindu political theory. The theories of the State with which we have been occupied so long are, it will be seen from the above, the theories of the monarchic State. The two passages, however, which we propose to take up here deal with the phenomena of republics, since they give identical lists of seven conditions that are thought to be necessary for ensuring the prosperity of one of the most famous republican communities of Ancient India, namely the Lichchhavi-Vajjis. They are thus summarised by Mr. Ramaprasad Chanda. “In a short dialogue of the Aṅguttara Nikāya [VII 19] we are told, when Buddha was staying at Sārandada-cetiya (caitya) at Vaisali, a very large party of the Lichchhavis came to him. Buddha explained to them the seven conditions of welfare (satta aparihāniye dhamme). These are (1) holding meetings of the clan regularly, (2) concord, (3) observance of the time-honoured customs and usages, (4) obedience to the elders, (5) abstinence from detaining by force or kidnapping women and maidens of the clan. The two other conditions relate to the religious practices and may be translated in full : (6) so long as the Lichchhavi-Vajjis honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian chetiyas in the city or outside it and allow not proper offerings and rites as formerly given and performed to fall into desuetude, so long may the Lichchhavi-Vajjis be expected not to decline but to prosper, (7) so long as the rightful protection defence and support shall be provided for the Arahants of the Lichchhavi-Vajjis, so that Arahants from a distance may enter the realm and the Arahants therein may live at ease, so long may etc. In the Mahāparinibbāṇasuttanta of the Dīgha Nikāya Buddha is made to repeat the seven conditions of welfare of the Vajjis when addressing Vassakāra the Brāhmaṇa, the prime minister of king Ajātaśatru of Magadha.”¹ Two important points at once suggest themselves in this most interesting analysis. It is, in the first place, intensely practical in form as well as in substance: it deals with the case of a specific republican community and it gives but a bare list of what the author conceives to be the conditions necessary for ensuring the success of the community. On the other hand, the author is completely silent about the inherent tendencies and characteristics of the republics, which doubtless furnish the basis of his practical precepts. In the second place, the above extracts involve a moralist’s analysis of republican conditions, not that of a political philosopher strictly so called, for in the list of qualifications mentioned therein are included not only the qualities of public spirit, harmony, and conformity to the established usages, but also those of obedience to the elders, protection of women, performance of religious rites, and honour to the saints.