History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.273

v4.c62.273

It is necessary to say a few words about some of the great officers of State. First comes the Yuvarāja. Kauṭilya devotes one chapter (I. 17) to taking care of the prince. The subjects of the prince's education, his association with state business, treatment of princes, good or bad, the coronation of a yuvarāja have already been dealt with (pp. 49, 83 &c.). The younger brother or eldest son was made yuvarāja (Crown Prince) during the reigning king's life (Ayodhyā, chap. 3–6, Kām. VII. 6, Śukra II. 14–16). Rāma on his coronation as king made Bharata the Crown Prince when Lakṣmaṇa refused to be so (Yuddha 131. 93). The yuvarāja and princes were often sent as governors of different parts of the realm. The Divyāvadāna (XXVI. p. 371) states that Aśoka was sent by his father Bindusāra to Takṣaśīlā to pacify popular disturbances and Emperor Aśoka himself is said to have sent his son Kunāla from Pāṭaliputra to the same town to pacify the citizens that had been offended by the arrogance of the *amātyas* (*ibid.* pp. 407–8). Khāravela in the Hāthīgumphā Ins. (E. I. vol. XX at pp. 79, 86) was a yuvarāja for nine years from his 16th to his 24th year. From the Mālavikāgnimitra we learn that while Puṣyamitra was virtual emperor of Bhāratavarṣa his son Agnimitra was ruling at Vidiśā and had the authority to divide the kingdom of Berar between two brothers, Yajñasena and Mādhavasena. The yuvarāja is not generally enumerated in the lists of mantrins, but he is one of the 18 tīrthas and from Śukra (above p. 115) it appears that he had a seal and important matters passed through his hands along with those of the ministers. According¹⁵⁴ to Śukra (II. 12) the yuvarāja and the group of amātyas are the two arms or eyes of the king, but Śukra V. 17 warns the king against transferring all power to the Crown Prince except when the king is about to die. The Matsyapurāṇa 220. 7 quoted in the Budhabhūṣaṇa (p. 33) prescribes that the king should entrust to the well-disciplined prince at first unimportant offices and then gradually important ones.¹⁵⁵ If a prince was ill-behaved he was not to be abandoned as he would go over to the enemies and harm the king, but he should be kept confined in a guarded place (Kām. VII. 6, Budhabhūṣaṇa pp. 33, 35, verses 77, 93). As regards his emoluments he was placed on the same footing as the mantrin, purohita, senāpati, the queen, the king's mother (Kauṭ. V. 3). What office is meant by the Kumārāmātya in some of the Inscriptions (e. g. Gupta Ins. pp. 10, 50, E. I. vol. X p. 72, E. I. vol. XI. p. 83) is not clear. It does not probably mean 'a royal prince who was also an amātya', but rather some minister attached to the yuvarāja, as contradistinguished from rājāmātya (which office occurs in Gupta Inscriptions, p. 218). It appears that in ancient times provincial governors could be total strangers to the royal family. From Rudradāman's Junāgadh Ins. we learn that the governor of Surāṣṭra under Candragupta Maurya was a vaiśya called Puṣyagupta and under Aśoka a *Yavana* noble or king called Tuṣāspa155a (E. I. VIII p. 36 at p. 43).