The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c10.67

c10.67

the courage to expostulate and is released (I, 371). Elsewhere, too, a criminal is hauled up in the very first instance before the king (I, 384; see also II, 298 et seq.) In the Rathalaṭṭhi Jâtaka (III, 104) a Purohita of the king falsely accuses some cart-drivers of striking him. The king promptly commands the drivers to give up their horses by way of punishment. The minister who happened to be the Bodhisatta, expostulates, persuades the king to hear the other side and so leads him to give the correct judgment. There were, of course, many cases which were decided by the officers of the king without reference to him (II, 182; V, 299).