Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c28.25

c28.25

And the monarchists may very well pick up the Arājaka theory from the republicans to justify their own theory of monarchy. But they could not ignore the Arājaka theory of Social Contract as the primary basis of state. On the basis of a mutual contract amongst the citizens, according to the Arājaka democrats, the state was founded.³ This, of course, was true of the Arājaka state. When the monarchists postulate a contract between the king and the people (to take office on condition to rule honestly and to receive taxes in return)⁴ they clearly say that this contract was resorted to when the contract of the Arājaka constitution failed in practical working. Here we find the monarchists really adopting the *social contract theory* originally postulated by the Arājakas. Probably a theory of social contract was common to all classes of republics. Its counter-part, applied to monarchy, was already known to Kauṭilya as an accepted truth.¹ Its origin in India is very ancient, evidently the most ancient in the world.² It is to be remembered that in its full exposition it was a republican theory. Such a theory was of immense value in its beneficial effect on the rulers in general.