Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c7.45

c7.45

All this burden placed upon royalty was a consequence of the very conception of royalty in Hindu Polity. It is thus stated by Kauṭilya [I. 13]: “The people overwhelmed by the evils of anarchy, wherein the strong prey upon the weak as among fishes, chose the king and assigned to him a sixth of agricultural produce and a tenth of sales of merchandise as revenue, in return for which the king was to protect the people, promote their welfare, by levy of punishment and taxes, and was answerable for their sins, if he did not punish them. Even hermits pay a sixth of the grain they glean to the king as their protector (*yosmān gopāyatīti*). The king is thus the fountain of favours and justice like Indra and Yama, and is entitled to the loyalty of his subjects.” This points out the origin of kingship in contract and election and the binding of the king to his people in ties of service. Thus Hindu political theory insists on the democratic foundations of kingship and imposes heavy obligations upon the king as ‘the father’ of the people. Kauṭilya is fond of the expression: “the king must treat his subjects as his sons” (*tān piteva anugṛhṇīyāt*) [II, 1; IV. 3.].