Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c34.3

c34.3

§ 198. The word Rājan and its original Rāt literally mean a ruler. It is connected with the Latin *rex*. But Hindu political theorists have given it a philosophic derivation. King is called Rājā because his duty is 'to please' (rañj) the people by maintaining good government. This philosophic interpretation has been accepted as an axiom throughout Sanskrit literature. The kings also acquiesced in and accepted this constitutional interpretation of the term. Emperor Khāravela of Kalinga, who was a Jaina, says in his inscription (C. 165 B.C.) that he did *please* his subjects, 35 hundred thousand in number. In the Buddhist Canon the same theoretic definition is found: *dhammena pare rañjetīti kho, Vāseṭṭha, rājā*.¹ Both orthodox and heterodox branches of the race had adopted it. It was a national interpretation and a national theory of constitution.