Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c17.29

c17.29

§ 89. It has been noticed as in the case of the Sikhs that belief and polity exercise a tremendous influence in moulding the physical features of man. The republican polity of this country is another illustration of this curious law of nature. The Greeks testify to the handsome looks and dignified bearing of the Kshudrakas and Mālavas, the Saubhūtas and the Kaṭhas. The remarks of the Buddha who compared the handsome Lichchhavis to a company of gods⁴ go to prove the same. Kṛishṇa in the Mahā-Bhārata is reported to have alluded to the handsome presence of certain Vṛishṇi leaders as a political asset.¹ It seems that the republicans consciously paid attention to physical culture This the Saubhūtas and the Kaṭhas even enforced by the laws of their constitutions.² The disappearance of that physique in the land of the Lichchhavis which excited the admiration of the Buddha, is parallel to the decline of physique in modern Hellas. Features also seem to be amenable to what Aristotle called the Queen of Sciences.