The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c15.180

c15.180

Like the Raghuvamśa, Mâlavikâgnimitra, perhaps the first dramatic piece of Kâlidâsa, extols the ideal of universal sovereignty in its very first lines. It lays down the precept that enemies should be quickly extirpated but feudatories are in evidence in its pages. There appear a number of border chieftains who often quarrel with one another and sometimes imprison each other's subjects. In the course of its incidents the play indicates that the king had a chief minister and a number of other ministers who held charge of different departments. Once the king is seen holding counsel with his minister in a lonely spot about the doings of the enemy. The Parivrâjikâ in Mâlavikâgnimitra testifies to the existence of female spies and recalls Kauṭalya. The play brings on