Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c6.57

c6.57

All the harmony, however, depends on the active exercise of governmental powers. The prosperity of the social order, its very existence, is bound up with the king's performance of his duty. The kingly duties stand in the forefront of all duties. It is they which protect the rest. As the footprints of the elephant engulf those of all other animals, so the duties of the Kṣatriya engulf those of all other orders under every circumstance.⁴ It is the king who always makes the age, not vice versa.⁵