History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.145.4

v4.c62.145.4

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'.