History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.622

v7.c93.622

The same *adhikaraṇa* where the Pūrvapakṣa proposes that Rājā means any one of any varṇa who rules over a kingdom and offers protection to the country and its cities, the siddhānta (PMS and Śabara) holds that ‘rājā’ is a word expressive of a caste viz. Kṣatriya, and this is referred to by several late Dharmaśāstra works like the Rājadharmakaustubha (p. 5). The V. P. refers to this adhikaraṇa and interprets the verse of Nārada viz. ‘one who is an apostate from the order of ascetics would become the slave of the king’ as providing that even a kṣatriya apostate would have to be the slave even of a vaiśya ruler, though the word ‘rājā’ in the primary sense means a kṣatriya yet in a secondary sense (lakṣaṇā) any one who protects subjects could be called rājā. The Par. M. discusses this adhikaraṇa at great length (I. 1. pp. 449-55). It may be noticed that the meaning of ‘rājā’ as kṣatriya in early texts changed to any ruler of any class who protects the country and people ruled over by him. This change is brought out briefly in Tantravārtika on III. 5. 26.