History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.145
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.145
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v4.c62.145.1
There were, it appears, several grades of rulers from the most ancient times. The word *rājan* occurs in numerous places in the Ṛgveda. It is applied to such gods as Mitra and Varuṇa (Ṛg. VII. 64. 2), Varuṇa (Ṛg. I. 24. 12 and 13, X. 173. 5). It appears to be used in two senses, viz. (1) ‘king’ as in Ṛg. I. 65. 7, III. 43. 5 (‘will you make me the protector of people, the king, O Indra’), IV. 4. 1, IX. 7. 5, X. 174. 4) and (2) ‘noble’ as in Ṛg. IX. 10. 3, X. 78. 1, X. 97. 6 (‘where the plants come together as nobles in an assembly’ *rājānaḥ samitāviva*). In Ṛg. VIII. 21. 18 it is said⁸⁷ ‘Citra who gave thousands and ten thousands is the only king, others are only small chiefs along the bank of the Sarasvatī’. The word ‘*samrāj*’ is known to the Ṛgveda and is used as an epithet of Varuṇa (in Ṛg. VI. 68. 9) and of Indra (in Ṛg. VIII. 16. 1) and the word *sāmrājya* also occurs in relation to Varuṇa in Ṛg. I. 25. 10. In Ṛg. VIII. 37. 3 Indra is said to be sole ruler of the world (*ekarāṭ*). It is not unlikely therefore that the idea of an emperor who had suzerainty over several kings was known, though it is possible that in Ṛg. VIII. 37. 3 the word is used only in a metaphorical sense. In Ṛg. VII. 83. 7–887a it is said that ten kings though they formed a confederacy could not vanquish king Sudās and that in the ten kings’ battle (*dāśarājñe*) Indra and Varuṇa helped Sudās who was surrounded by them on all sides.
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A very large number of kings is mentioned by name in numerous places in the Ṛgveda (e. g. I. 53. 8 and 10, I. 54. 6, I. 100. 17, VII. 33. 2, VIII. 3. 12, VIII. 4. 2). Besides these it appears that there were tribal chiefs or governments of such clans or tribes as the Anus, Druhyus, Turvaśas, Pūrus, Yadus (Rg. I. 108. 8, all in the plural, VII. 18. 6 and VIII. 6. 46). But sometimes these words are used in the singular, when they mean 'a king or chief of that clan'. Vide Rg. VIII. 4. 7, VIII. 10. 5, IV. 30. 17. In the Atharvaveda III. 4. 1 (may you shine forth as the sole ruler of men) that word (*ekarāṭ*) is used in its literal sense and in Atharva VI. 98. 1 (may87b Indra conquer and may he never be defeated, may he shine as the overlord among kings) the idea of an emperor (*adhirāja*) is clearly set forth. In Rg. X. 128. 9⁸⁸ the word 'adhirāja' must be taken in the same sense. The Atharvaveda speaks of an Ugra which word seems to mean a formidable king (or emperor) 'Then you chase away disease as a formidable (king) who is in the midst (of many kings presses hard each of them)' IV. 9. 4. In the Atharvaveda III. 4. 3 it is said 'May the *ugra* see a lot of tribute'. In Rg. X. 34. 8 the word *ugra* has probably the same sense viz. 'a formidable king'. In the Tai. S. II. 6. 2. 2 it is said that men are held (supported or restrained) by the king (tasmād rājñā manuṣyā vidhṛtāḥ). In the Tai. S. I. 8. 10.
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2 occur⁸⁹ the words in the *āvid* formula recited in the Rājasūya 'May the gods extract for men great power, great overlordship, great sovereignty over people; this, O Bharatas, is your king, while Soma is king of us brāhmaṇas'. The exact relation of the two words 'ādhipatya' and 'jānarājya' is not clear. Similar words occur in Vāj. S. IX. 40 and X. 18 and in Kāṭhaka XV. 5. In the Ait. Br. (39. 1) it is said⁹⁰ that 'whoever desires the king to attain supremacy over all kings, to attain to the rank of emperor...and desires that he be the supreme ruler, the sole emperor (ekarāṭ) of the whole earth bounded by the sea up to its very extremities should be consecrated and crowned with the *Aindra Mahābhiṣeka* after making him take an oath.' In this passage the meanings of the words 'bhaujya', 'svārājya', 'vairājya' and 'pārameṣṭhya' in relation to sovereignty over people are not clear. They are probably hyperbolical and grandiloquent words to convey supreme power. Even a brāhmaṇa, according to vedic texts, may perform the Vājapeya if he desires 'svārājya' which means super-eminence. Parameṣṭhin means 'Prajāpati' and so pārameṣṭhya simply means godlike power. Further there is no apparent reason why, after rising high from sāmrājya to 'pārameṣṭhya' there should be a descent to mere 'rājya' and 'māhārājya'. Sāyaṇa⁹¹ takes 'rājya' and 'māhārājya' at the end of the passage as referring to the position of the king in the next world. This is rather far-fetched.
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Jayaswal (in 'Hindu Polity', part 1 pp. 89–90 and p. 133) takes these words to mean 'the Bhaujya constitution &c.' relying on the occurrence of the Bhojas in Aśoka's Rock Edicts V and XIII and in Khāravela's Inscription, on the appearance of Bhojas as rulers in Western India and the town of Bhuj in Cutch and 'vairājya' as kingless system and 'svārājya' as 'self-ruling system'; but this is all unwarranted and is a fair sample of the way in which some of Jayaswal's theories are built up. It passes one's understanding how a paramount sovereign is promised *vairājya* (in Jayaswal's sense) in the Ait. Br. In the Ṛgveda (V. 66. 6) we have the word 'svarājya' (which probably means the same thing as 'svārājya') in 'Let us strive for an all-embracing sovereignty, which will afford protection to many'⁹². In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa the distinction between a king (rājan) and an emperor is very clearly expressed as follows: 'For, by offering the Rājasūya he becomes king and by the Vājapeya he becomes emperor; and the office of king is the lower and that of emperor higher' (V. 1. 1. 13). Śatapatha IX. 3. 4. 8 contains the same idea again. In Śatapatha I. 6. 4. 21 it is said 'before the slaying of Vṛtra he was Indra, it is true; but after slaying Vṛtra he became Mahendra, even as a king (rājan) becomes a mahārāja after obtaining victory'.
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These passages are sufficient to establish that the idea of a suzerainty extending over many kingdoms was known in the times of the Ṛgveda and had been fully developed before the composition of the Aitareya and Śatapatha Brāhmaṇas.