Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.s4.15

c8.s4.15

In the Arthaśāstra the ministers are not bound to one another by corporate responsibility, but they all stand in subordination to the Chief Minister who recalls the Norman-Angevin Chancellor, the Turkish Grand Vizier, and more than anything else, the Vakil of the Indian Mughals. Par excellence, he was the sovereign's representative, the vicegerent of the empire. If the king was indifferent, lazy, or ill, the Chief Minister practically filled his place. Indian history records numerous instances of the usurpation of the royal dignity by over-mighty ministers.