Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c15.2

c15.2

§ 53 The Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya deals with the characteristics of Saṁghas and the Imperial policy towards them.¹ They were still important, although a decline had set in owing to the rise of large monarchies and Alexander's invasion, the latter having discredited small sovereignties and emphasized the importance of large States (§ 64). Kauṭilya divides Saṁghas, as we have already seen, into two classes. One of them was the class whose Consuls bore the title of Rājā or 'king.' As he contrasts them with the other class, he implies that the latter had no provision for this title and did not allow it. Such constitutions are known to have existed from the evidence of coins.² Amongst the former class whose rulers bore the title, Kauṭilya enumerates—