A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3.61

c8.s3.61

The category of seven elements obviously involves the consideration of government from the point of view of its composition. Another political category which goes back to the same early period deals with the king as the reservoir of power. Kauṭilya quotes in one place † the opinion of an early teacher regarding the relative importance of the three ‘powers’ (śaktis) of the king. This shows that the category in question had at an early period become the possession of the Arthaśāstra. The three ‘powers’ are the power of good counsel (mantraśakti), the majesty of the king himself (prabhuśakti), and the power of energy (utsāhaśakti). Kauṭilya defines these as consisting respectively in the strength of knowledge, that of the army and the treasury, and that of heroic valour.‡ This category, so far as it goes, obviously exhibits the State as ruled by the human qualities of physical might, energy and knowledge. The State, in other words, is viewed as a work of art, requiring the exercise of the king’s mental and moral qualities for its successful direction.§