Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c6.119

c6.119

If righteousness and protection are absent from the policy of the king, he forfeits all title to obedience. If he falls under the influence of vicious and sinful ministers and destroys righteousness, he and his family deserve to be slain by his subjects. In any case, he soon meets with destruction.³ Here the Mahâbhârata places a sharp and decisive limitation on the doctrine of loyalty, almost of passive obedience, which it inculcates elsewhere. It does not work out any philosophy of resistance nor does it base the right to revolt on any clear conception of human rights. It only lays down a proposition that if the king destroys righteousness, he must be got rid of.