The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.143

c12.143

Of the institutions through which the power of the state was exercised, the Aśokan edicts do not say much. But they make it clear that the king was the central and most important institution. He thought and planned and advised; he exhorted and guided his officers incessantly. He toured incessantly. Other kings had indulged in vihâra-yâtrâs, pleasure or hunting tours but he had converted them into Dhamma-yâtrâs or spiritual tours.² He styled himself Râja. The grandiloquent titles which occur in later inscriptions had not yet come into fashion. Though supreme over the whole of North India and the Deccan, he was primarily the king of Magadha. As such he styles himself in the Calcutta-Bairat Rock Inscription. He has a personal designation of his own, signifying ‘king,’ beloved of the gods and of affectionate vision³—Devânâmpriya Priyadarśi Râja, or briefly Devânâmpriya Priyadarśi, Priyadarśi Râja, Devânâmpriya Râja or Devânâmpriya, as he variously styles himself. It was, perhaps, something like a dynastic appellation. One of the Ceylonese Chronicles calls Candragupta Maurya Piyadassin. Daśaratha, probably a descendant of Aśoka, is called Devânâmpriya, in the Nâgârjuni Hill Cave Inscription.¹ The capital of Aśoka continued to be Pâṭaliputra but he transacted the business of the state wherever he happened to be (Rock Edict VI). The king maintained a huge establishment. The mention of Kâruvâkî as the second queen shows that in the harem the grade of queens was fixed. The king’s brothers and sons, as the mention of their charities proves, lived in effulgence at Pâṭaliputra and other towns and were often associated in the task of administration.² Rock Edict I implies that before his conversion to the Dhamma, hundreds of animals were slaughtered daily in the royal kitchen. This means a huge palace and court establishment though it is probable that part of the meat was distributed free to people. The king seems to have moved about in palanquins.³ In Pillar Edict V, there is an interesting reference to Nâgavana, the elephant-park of the king.