History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.496.7

v4.c62.496.7

41) states that there were numerous views about the number of the elements of the maṇḍala, but a maṇḍala of twelve kings is quite clear and well-known among all people²⁹⁵. Kām. (VIII. 20-41) explains how by various combinations of the elements of the maṇḍala with some elements of sovereignty (viz. ministers, rāṣṭra, durga, kośa, bala) different writers held that the maṇḍala comprised 18, 26, 54, 72, 108 and other numbers of prakṛtis. The Sarasvatīvilāsa (pp. 37-41) shows how from different standpoints Uśanas himself argued that the maṇḍala was constituted by one prakṛti, two, three, 10, 21, 108 and that other writers speak also of 4, 5, 6, 14, 18, 30, 36, 44, 60, 72 prakṛtis. All these figures are due to the inveterate habit of scholastic minds to run an idea to the earth and to indulge in divisions and sub-divisions. Even Manu (VII. 157) states that combining each of the twelve members of maṇḍala with the five elements of sovereignty from amātya onwards we get 60 which with the twelve²⁹⁶ come to 72. It is to this that the Daśakumāracarita (VIII. p. 144) refers when speaking of the tree of *naya* that it has 72 prakṛtis as its leaves (dvisaptatiprakṛtipatraḥ ... nayavanaspatīḥ). The central idea of the maṇḍala was to keep a balance of power among a circle of States, some being friendly among themselves owing to their position and surroundings, while others would form an antagonistic group. Kauṭ. (VI.