History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.154

v4.c62.154

The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa mentions by name twelve emperors of ancient India and the Śatapatha thirteen (XIII. 5. 4. 1–19). Pāṇini explains (V. 1. 41–42) ‘sārva-bhauma’ as ‘the lord of the whole earth’. The Amarakośa states that the words ‘rāj’, ‘pārthiva’, ‘kṣmābhṛt’, ‘nṛpa’, ‘bhūpa’ and ‘mahīkṣit’ are synonyms and mean ‘king’, that a king before whom all feudatories humble themselves is styled ‘adhīśvara’, ‘cakravartin’, ‘sārvabhauma’ i. e. these three last words are synonyms. The word ‘cakravartin’ is derived⁹³ by Kṣīrasvāmin as ‘one who wields lordship over a circle of kings’ or ‘who makes the circle (i. e. kingdom) abide by his orders’. The word ‘cakravartin’, though not so ancient as ‘sārvabhauma’, has been employed from very ancient times. The Maitrī Upaniṣad I. 4 mentions⁹⁴ 15 cakravartins. The Rājanītiprakāśa (p. 58) quotes⁹⁵ a passage from the Sāmavidhāna Brāhmaṇa (III. 5. 2) ‘the priest should perform the coronation with the Ekavṛṣa Sāman for that king whom he desires to be the sole ruler and whose circle of territory (he does not desire) to be overwhelmed (by an enemy)’. Here probably is one of the earliest references to the derivation of the word cakravartin. In the Mahāvagga (Selasutta, S. B. E. vol. X p. 102) Lord Buddha is made to say ‘I am a king, an incomparable, religious king (dharmarāja); with justice (dhammena) I turn the wheel, a wheel that is irresistible’. Here the idea of the secular cakravartin is carried into the moral and spiritual sphere. In the Nānāghāt Inscription (of about 200 B. C.) occurs the word ‘apratihatacakasa’ (i. e.—cakrasya). Vide ASWI, vol. V. p. 50 at p. 60. Khāravela is styled Kaliṅga-cakravartin in the Mañchapuri record of his chief queen (E. I. vol. XX p. 86n), ‘supavatavijayacaka’ (supravṛttavijaya-cakra, in l. 14) and ‘pavata-caka’ (pravṛtta-cakra in l. 17) of his Hāthigumphā Inscription (E. I. vol. XX at pp. 88–89). Kauṭilya (IX. 1) defines the land of the cakravartin⁹⁶ as the territory on the earth spreading towards the north from the sea to the Himālaya, which is a thousand *yojanas* in extent when measured in a straight line. The same idea occurs in the Kāvyamīmāṁsā of Rājaśekhara (p. 92). Kauṭilya also employs the expression 'cāturanto rājā' (a king of the earth up to its four boundaries). Śānti-parva⁹⁷ speaks of a ruler who brings the whole earth under one umbrella. On the birth of Harṣa, the chief astrologer told his father Prabhākaravardhana that the boy would be the leader of the seven cakravartins (Harṣacarita IV). In some works the six cakravartins are said to be Māndhātā, Dhundhumāra, Hariścandra, Purūravas, Bharata, Kārtavīrya. The Sabhāparva (15. 15-16) mentions five emperors of old viz. Yauvanāśva (Māndhātā), Bhagīratha, Kārtavīrya, Bharata and Marutta. Vide Dr. N. N. Law's 'Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity' pp. 17-21 for exhaustive lists of ancient emperors, from the Mahābhārata, the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and other works. This ideal of cakravartin was set before them by all ambitious and energetic Indian rulers from ancient times. The result was that constant wars took place. We have a galaxy of historical emperors that emulated such mythical heroes and emperors as Māndhātā and Bharata and practically realized the ideal. To name only a few, Candragupta, Aśoka, Puṣyamitra, Bhavanāga of the Bhāraśivas, Pravarasena Vākāṭaka, Samudragupta and Harṣa are great names in our ancient history. Even if this ideal of universal empire had not been there, wars could not have been avoided. That was a very usual thing everywhere in the ancient world. Only about 700 years ago, Britain, which is a very small country compared to India, had three kingdoms engaged in constant warfare.