Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c16.63

c16.63

§ 76. It is not certain whether the next state had a regal or popular constitution. Alexander's companions admired their constitution and laws. "They regard the excessive pursuit of any art, as war for instance and the like, as wickedness." (Strabo, XV. 34). The realm was reported to be the most opulent in India.¹ The citizens took their meals in common, a practice also mentioned in the Atharva Veda.² They did not recognise the institution of slavery (Strabo, XV 34). It is possible to recover the name of this free people from our literature. The identification, proposed by Lassen,³ with the Mushikas cannot stand. The Mushikas were below the Sahya or the Vindhyas.⁴ *Mousikanos* seems to stand for what we have in the Kāśikā (p. 313, on P. IV. 2. 80) as *Muchukarṇa* to denote