The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c10.42

c10.42

The character of the despotism varied according to the personal equation. The Dasarājadhamme or ten duties of the king (III, 274, 320) comprise charity, moral rectitude, sacrifice, truthfulness, mildness, self-denial, forgiveness, not to cause any pain to anybody, patience, a yielding disposition. In the Jātakas, kings are often just, righteous, merciful and charitable. But a king could sometimes be a whimsical tyrant who, as a Jātaka (II, 240) puts it, "oppresses and puts down his subjects by punishments, taxes, torture and robbery, as one pounds sugar in a sugar mill, who is as odious to them as a particle of dust in the eye, as a particle of sand in the rice or as a thorn that has pierced the hand." An oppressive king sucks the country dry of all wealth (IV, 224). Another capricious tyrant took a dislike to all old