Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c44.63

c44.63

The *Jānapada*, as distinct from the *Prajā* and *loka* 'the people' (as in Pillar proclamations IV and VII), are mentioned, and it was for their benefit that the Rājūkas wanted independence. The Jānapada evidently supported the ministers. The Buddhist monks might well cry at the fate that deprived the Emperor of India of his *aiśvaryya* or sovereign authority. But they do not, as they could not, call the Ministers sinful for that. The Emperor bowed to the authority of the laws of his country. The politicians under the leadership of the polite but firm Rādha-gupta³ and the Pauras according to the Divyāvadāna, listened to the sarcasms of the Emperor—a feature in the Emperor's language even in the inscription—and they let the otherwise great Emperor continue in the enjoyment of his throne and title and preach his 'sublime nonsense.' But the political writers do not seem to have let the license of monkish professions pass unnoticed. 'The dharma 'of the king indeed is the suppression of the evil and the 'rearing-up of the good and not the shaving of the head '[becoming a Buddhist monk] or the growing of matted hair.'¹