Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c15.38

c15.38

Theory found a check to misrule not in any constitutional checks but in the inculcation of the idea of Dharma, to which all must conform.² That supreme, all-comprehensive Law represented the Divine will and purpose, the true way of life. The Jaiminiya Sûtras define dharma as something which is commanded.¹ In Nyâya, in Vaiśeṣika, in Jaina metaphysics, as elsewhere, Dharma denotes the property of a thing. There was a harmony, an order, divine and eternal, which pervaded the universal law and every part of it, which naturally covered the world of man and embraced rulers and ruled alike. As in medieval Europe, so in ancient India, theory saw the universe as one articulated whole. The unity of all life in which Jainas and Buddhists believed with other Hindus, strengthened this habit of thought. Not merely in Hindu poetry, but in serious Hindu speculation on moral and religious life, the fortunes of men and gods are linked together so that there almost appears the vision of a common wealth of which human and celestial beings alike are members. To quote a single instance, in the Jaina Harivaṁśa Purâṇa the kings of Videha are gods who have descended to earth on the expiry of their allotted life in heaven.² In short, there were principles applicable to all, principles which were of a universal nature. These must be respected by the mightiest of potentates. The supremacy of the law is an axiom in all Hindu political speculation. One is reminded of medieval Europeans, like Celsus and Origen who, though differing in many points, agreed in holding that law is the king of all things. A yet closer analogy is furnished by the saying which Herodotus attributes to Pindar, viz., that "custom is the king of all things." In ancient India Dharma included both law and custom.