The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c15.185

c15.185

The Abhijñâna Śâkuntala, the most charming product of the Hindu genius, has a few interesting political touches. The king is the protector of all—he ought to protect, adjudicate and chastise. He takes one-sixth of the produce of the soil in return for the functions he performs. He also receives one-sixth of the merits and demerits of his subjects. He ought to be the nearest of kin to all. The king, like a tall tree, has to bear the heat and brunt to shelter those under his charge. Royalty, like an umbrella in hand, makes more for inconvenience than for enjoyment.² At the same time in actual practice, the king was rather fond of hunting and would spend a long time over it.³ Hunting, in fact, is eulogised with real poetic fervour. He has a big harem which has its own politics and in which not every one is happy.⁴ He was not always easily accessible to the people. “Kings are not to be got at so easily,” says a constable when the superintendent is late to return in the sixth Act. In his moods, the king could be arbitrary.