Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c11.s3: The Sovereign's Qualifications

Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c11.s3

Language: English

The Sovereign's Qualifications

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men. He must strive to command the respect of all meritorious people. Let him win the admiration and allegiance of his subjects by great deeds, and by generosity in gifts and honours. He must possess courage and martial accomplishments. Nothing is so essential to him as discipline. The king must discipline his sons, his ministers and his subjects. But example is better than precept. The king must first discipline himself. There is no beauty in sovereignty without discipline. From lack of discipline numberless monarchs had come to ruin. It is not birth that makes a king. It is only such qualities as prowess, strength and valour which can bring the honour essential to the kingly office. Besides, it must be remembered that "the ruler has been made by Brahma a servant of the people getting his revenue as remuneration." The purpose of sovereignty is the protection of the people. The king and the people are equally necessary to each other. It is the office rather than the person of the sovereign that is sacred. Even a dog looks like a king when it ascends a royal chariot. A king who is hostile to virtue and morality should be deserted.¹

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¹ Ibid., 6-7, 12-21, 24, 50, 89.

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The king must personally attend to the business of the state. After the manner of Kauṭalya, Śukra prescribes a detailed time-table for the king. He divides the day into thirty muhûrtas of forty-eight minutes each. The king must rise early and attend to finance for two muhûrtas, studying the following points:—"How much is the fixed income and how much the certain expenditure? How much has been used out of the things and materials in the Treasury? What is the remainder after the transactions from the fixed Income and Expenditure? Then ascertaining

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The King's Time-Table.

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from the record as well as by personal knowledge as to the amount to be spent to-day he should bring the articles out of the Treasury.” The rest of the royal time-table may be summarised as follows:—

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But the king is not to confine himself to the headquarters. He “must personally inspect every year the grāmas (villages), puras (cities) and deśas (districts and provinces), and must know which subjects have been pleased and which oppressed by the staff of officers, and deliberate upon the matters brought forward by the people."¹

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¹ Ibid., 36-37, 51-52.

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The essential features of sovereignty are the same everywhere. But on the basis of the amount of the annual revenue, Śukra divides sovereigns into various grades:—

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| Designation | Annual Revenue in Karṣas | Annual Revenue in Modern Indian Money |
| | From | To | From | To |
| Sāmanta | 1 lac | 3 lacs | Rs. 83,333 | Rs. 250,000 |
| Māṇḍalika | 3 lacs | 10 lacs | ,, 250,000 | ,, 833,333 |
| Rājā | 10 lacs | 20 lacs | ,, 833,333 | ,, 1,666,666 |
| Mahārājā | 20 lacs | 50 lacs | ,, 1,666,666 | ,, 4,166,666 |
| Svarāṭ | 50 lacs | 100 lacs | ,, 4,166,666 | ,, 8,333,333 |
| Samrāṭ | 1 crore | 10 crores | ,, 8,333,333 | ,, 83,333,333 |
| Virāṭ | 10 crores | 50 crores | ,, 83,333,333 | ,, 416,666,666 |

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Sārvabhauma—Universal Monarchy.²

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² Ibid., 36-7.

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In the body-politic the position of the royal family presented some difficulties. Śukra attempts to lay down a few rules. As a rule, the eldest son should succeed to the throne but if he is physically unfit, that is, if he is deaf, dumb or blind, a leper or a eunuch, he should be passed over in favour of his younger brother, or of the king's younger brother, or of the latter's son. It is only in the absence of seniors that juniors are entitled to the succession.

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Elsewhere he wants that the king should exercise the greatest care in selecting for this office one of his legitimate sons, one of his uncles (younger than himself) or younger brother, older brother's son, an adopted child, a daughter's son, a sister's son, " successively according to failure." The king should carefully refrain from unfairly treating any one of those eligible for the office of heir-apparent. At the same time they must be well-guarded and kept from temptation. If they harbour treasonable designs, they must be carefully "extirpated through tigers or enemies or through craft." The crown-prince must be gentle and kind to his parents and relations and to the people at large. He must obey the king. The other members of the royal family should be assistants and auxiliaries to the king. They should be appointed superintendents of departments, generals in the army or governors of provinces. But a partition of the kingdom must be avoided at all costs.

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Not even a trifling business can be managed single-handed. No king, howsoever proficient in "all the sciences" and howsoever perfect a master of practical policy, should "study political interests without reference to ministers." If he insists on having his own way, he will plunge the kingdom into misery and himself into unpopularity and ruin. "The wise ruler should always abide by the well-thought decisions of councillors, office-bearers, subjects and members attending a meeting—never by his own opinions."

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In the selection of ministers, it is not caste or family but merit and character which should matter. Here is an important principle in direct antagonism to the traditions of caste or aristocracy. Dignity and courtesy, energy and promptness, loyalty and devotion, purity and incorruptibility—such are the characteristics of good ministers. There should be ten principal officers of state—the priest, the vicegerent, the chief secretary, the commander, the foreign secretary, the judge, the scholar, the financier, the minister and the spy. The priest should be a man of learning and character, a master of the political and military sciences.

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He must be able to command the respect of the king. Here was one test of his efficiency, as that of other ministers. Another test was to be sought in the continuous improvement of the realm in extent, revenue, population and administration. The vicegerent was, *par excellence*, the advisor of the king. He must find out the proper time for the commencement of an enterprise. Though unheeded, he should persist in offering sagacious counsel. The chief secretary should supervise the work of state departments and should see that all functionaries carried out the duties assigned to them. The commander has to study all the sections, manœuvres, and equipment of the military forces. The qualifications and duties of other officers are similarly detailed. Śukra would like the ministers frequently to change portfolios.

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On the gradation of state officers Śukra is far from clear. He constantly mixes them up with feudal vassals.

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Government Officials in general. To begin from the bottom, the designation of the village officer is not mentioned. The villages should form a group under a Nāyaka. Ten such groups came under Nṛisâmantas. Over them came Sâmantas whose area of jurisdiction yielded an income of between one and three lacs of karṣas. The same designation is applied to autonomous rulers of a hundred villages. In between came an officer called Hinasâmanta or inferior Sâmanta who received the same salaries as Sâmanta but whose position was inferior. His functions are not specified. Over ten thousand villages stood the Ashapâla. Soldiers should not be employed in civil administration. Salaries may be assigned in land, but Śukra warns the ruler against the growth of hereditary interest. The king, indeed, must liberally endow lands for gods and temples, for parks and for public grounds, and also make grants to individuals. He must provide the peasantry with suitable dwelling-houses but he must never alienate his sovereign rights.¹

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¹ Ibid., 25, 27, 269. Śukra insists more than once that one test of the efficiency of ministers is that they should be feared by the king (pp. 69-70). Cf. Somadeva Sûri.

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A few rules of etiquette are laid down. The village headman should ride on horseback. The ruler of ten villages and the commander of one hundred troops should travel on horseback with attendants. The governor of a thousand villages should always travel in vehicles drawn by two horses or by men. The commander of 10,000 troops should ride an elephant and be attended by twenty men. The ruler of 10,000 villages is given the honour of four horses in his carriage. The commander of 50,000 is given many attendants.²

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² Ibid., 269.

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Every village ought to have a collector of land-revenue, the clerk, the collector of tolls and duties, as also the news-bearer. Every town must have a similar set. In practice, two or more offices are likely to have been combined in one person. These officials must all be experts in their several lines. For secretaries and accountants Śukra lays down the most minute directions. Officers should wear different uniforms. When leaving service they were given souvenirs of the ‘proper insignia of office placed on steel, copper, bronze, silver, gold and jewels.’

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More than once, Śukra insists on capacity as the supreme qualification for office, but he violates his precept when he distributes offices according to caste. The village headman should be a Brâhmaṇa, the tax-collector a Kṣatriya, the customs officer a Vaiśya, the clerk a Kâyastha, the sentinel a Śûdra. The heads of the higher administrative divisions should be Kṣatriyas. The

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Caste and Government Service.

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commander should preferably be a Kṣatriya, otherwise a Brāhmaṇa or a member of any caste.¹

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¹ Ibid., 54-89, 97-98, 100-101.

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Śukra, like other Hindu writers, insists that the king should constantly consult his ministers. But consultations may also be held with relations and friends.

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The Court. Such consultations on a large scale tended to be what are now called ‘darbars.’ Minute instructions are given for the court. In the centre of the western half of the hall is to stand the royal throne. On the right and left are to sit the bodyguard and retinue. The princes and their sons, the king’s brothers and nephews, are to sit behind in succession ‘proceeding from the right towards the left.’ Uncles, other elder members of the royal family, and commanders are “to sit in the front on separate seats at the right hand moving towards the east.” “Superiors in the family of maternal grandfather, ministers, cognate relations, fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, and officers are to sit in the front at the left hand (moving towards the east). The son-in-law and brother-in-law are to sit just on the left and right sides. And the friend is to be like him, either near or on half of his own seat. In the place of daughter’s sons and nephews, the adopted sons may have seats of the sons. The Āchārya or preceptor, like the father, is to sit on the same kind of good seats. On both sides and in the front the scribes and clerks are to be at the back of the ministers. The servants are to be seated at the back of all. Two men bearing gold sceptres are to be stationed on either side to communicate the presence and salutation (of persons) to the King.” Such was the arrangement of “the darbar.” When all the courtiers had assembled, the king should appear with a crown on his head, “well-dressed, well-decorated, armoured,” with the royal insignia, “effective missiles and uncovered weapons.” He was greeted with flattering cries, such as “thou art the greatest of all givers and heroes.” But the king had better not hear such remarks. Whether in secret, council, or open court, the king should ask the opinions of his ministers. If they were overawed into silence, he should insist on written opinions. The king should carefully weigh their arguments and “then do what is accepted by the many.” Besides the court there were other pageants. When on tour, the king entered a city, mounted on an elephant, surrounded by his kinsmen, friends and state officers.¹

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¹ Ibid., 48–51. Compare the picture of the Court in Merutuṅgâchârya, Prabandha Chintâmaṇi (14th century), tr. Tawney, pp. 122-123.

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Over the whole administration the king must exercise a close personal supervision. He should keep a strict watch over government servants. In disputes and complaints he should side with his subjects, not with his officers. “He should dismiss the officer who is accused by one hundred men.” So, too, he must dismiss an habitual offender and punish those who go astray more than once. The king should issue stringent decrees forbidding his officers to be harsh or cruel in words. Royal officers and servants should live outside the villages and should not enter them without a permit. He must extend his particular protection to spies whose function it is to watch the doings of officials. They must be shielded from departmental rigours and from the wrath of those who might be offended with them. At the same time it is incumbent on the spies to speak the truth. If they deposed falsely they must be severely punished. Else the life and

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Royal Supervision.

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property of the people would be seriously jeopardised. In any case, the reports of spies should be carefully scrutinised.¹ All government employees must be above corruption. None should damage the interests of the king. None should shield offenders or bad characters.

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¹ Śukra, 51-2, 46, 40, 269.

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The capital of a state should be situated in the midst of a fertile, verdant, well-watered country, if possible near the sea and not far from the hills. It should have the shape of a half-moon or a circle or a square. It must be protected by walls and ditches pierced by four gates in four directions. Its water-supply must be amply provided by wells, tanks and pools. It must be beautified by parks which should be laid out in rows. It must have temples dedicated to gods.

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Taverns and serais must be provided for sheltering travellers and merchants. These, it is emphasised, should be very numerous. They should be built strong and must be provided with tanks. Their rooms should be "uniform and in a row and may face the north and east." "In the market-place stalls or shops are to be placed according to the classes of commodities." For administrative purposes, the capital must be divided into wards. In the centre must stand the government buildings and in their midst must rise the royal residence, square but sloping towards the north. It must be "well-adorned with spacious tanks, wells and water pumps," and must have stables for "elephants, horses and cattle." The palace walls must be pierced by four beautiful gates in four directions defended by strong machines and guarded by well-armed sentinels. There shall be three courtyards, each patrolled day and night by four, five or six well-armed guards changing duty every three hours. Within the palace itself, the eastern spaces should be occupied with apartments for laundry, baths, kitchens, dining-halls and halls for worship. "For sleep and entertainments, for drinking as well as weeping, for grains and grindstones, for servants and maids, as well as for committing nuisances, houses should be built in order, towards the south. Towards the west will come sheds for cows, deer, camels, elephants, and other animals. The northern rooms, strong and beautiful, are reserved for chariots, horses, arms and weapons, gymnasium, watchmen, for clothes and provisions as well as for the study of the branches of learning."

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On this side, too, shall stand the court-house and the museum. The whole arrangement is rather arbitrary. Perhaps it merely follows some existing arrangement. Śukra himself realises that no particular merit attaches to the rules he lays down. He wisely adds that the king may here follow his own inclinations. The capital must be connected with other towns and villages by a net-work of roads.

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Into the minute regulations on housebuilding it is needless to follow the author, but it is interesting to note the details about the council house. It is to be strong and beautiful, rectangular in shape, twice or thrice as long as wide, with one, two or three floors, mounted by tents on the top. It is to be divided into three, five or seven rooms, each provided with windows on all sides. The height of the hall must be either equal to its width or greater by one-fifth. The central room must be twice as wide as the side rooms. "The Council House is to be furnished with instruments for throwing water upwards, musical instruments for distributing air and also for indicating time, mirrors as well as pictures." "Dwelling-houses for ministers, clerks, members of council and offices should be built separately to the north or east. Then follow the cantonments.¹

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¹ Ibid., 27-35.

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Śukra realises the importance of the means of communication. Royal highways, ranging in width from five to fifteen yards, should radiate from the palace in all directions. The capital must be connected with towns and villages by roads. The centre of each village should be the starting point of roads and paths, nearly seven yards in width in all directions. Villages should be connected with each other by roads and footpaths of various widths. The different dimensions are given as follows:—

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| (1) Râjamârga or Royal highway | ... (1) | 30 cubits wide. |
| Do. | | 20 ” |
| Do. | | 15 ” |
| (2) Mârga (highway) | ... 10 | ” |
| (3) Bithî | ... | ... 5 ” |
| (4) Padya | ... | ... 3 ” |

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The roads should be high in the middle, like the back of a tortoise to allow rain-water to flow down freely. Drains should be provided on either side. Houses must face the high-ways, with their backs on the by-paths. Every year roads must be repaired with gravel. Convict labour should be employed in the work. Roads must be carefully protected. All who dared to molest the travellers should be severely dealt with.²

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² Ibid., 34-35, 43, 184-185, 189-190, 192, 194-206, 209, 211, 213-214, 217-219, 255-256.

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There must be a serai or rest-house between every two villages. "It is to be daily cleared and well-governed

Linked texts (3)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Nītivākyāmṛta — Somadevasūri, Sanskrit
Prabandhacintāmaṇi — Merutuṅga, Sanskrit