Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c47.76

c47.76

In effect it is the theory of Mīmāṁsā and the law and constitution retold. It is retold in connexion with the rights of the family of a ruler. A kingdom is not partible, because according to the Śāstras it is not the property of the king. As the Śāstrakāras have said, *bhūmi 'with seats of water' upon "it* belongs to the king, only in as much as he has to protect it and no more." He is only its Protector. Hence of his family members (*kutumbinām*) there is no coparcenary therein. As protector he takes taxes, and as he is the protector of the *bhūmi* 'with seats of water' on it, he is entitled to derive taxes both from land and water. His family members have nothing to do with these taxes or with the sources of these taxes.