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The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c16: Chapter XII. The Later Dharma Śāstras, Purāṇas and other Literature

The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c16

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English

Contents

Chapter XII. The Later Dharma Śāstras, Purāṇas and other Literature

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The interval between the destruction of the Gupta empire towards the close of the 5th century A.D. and the rise of the Vardhana empire at the dawn of the 7th century A.D. is again an interregnum of confusion and obscurity. The coins and inscriptions supply some names of kings, some outline of certain events such as the invasion, devastation, and the repulse of Huns but they throw little light on institutions. The literature of the period, however, frequently touches on politics. It is not free from difficulties. The dates of the various works are doubtful. The whole literature is bound to the tradition of the past and attempts consciously to move in the old groves. On the other hand, it has suffered from later interpolations. Its data can be held true only in a very general manner and for a rather long period extending beyond the interregnum into subsequent centuries. Once again, its details, precisely worked out and all very fascinating, must be neglected as predominantly theoretical. From the political point of view the extant literature may be viewed under the categories of Dharma Śāstras, Purāṇas and classical literature.

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Of the later Dharma Śāstras,¹ Nārada and Bṛihaspati are the most important. The former who flourished about the 6th century A.D. draws plentifully on Manu and other Dharma Śāstras and, on the whole, lacks originality. He is concerned primarily with law and touches but incidentally on administrative matters. It is remarkable that the high-sounding imperial or feudatory titles which came into vogue during the Gupta period and lasted for several centuries are not mentioned in Nârada or any other Dharma Śâstra. These adhere to the time-honoured expressions, Râja, Nripati, etc., and show that the pompous style had not originated when the Dharma Śâstra tradition was first chalked out. Nârada places the king and the Brâhmaṇa among the eight sacred objects. He would, like Gautama, exempt them from censure and corporal punishment in this world, "for these two sustain the visible world." The law which Nârada states pertains to the whole of human life. For example, if a man deserts a wife who is obedient and virtuous and who is the mother of male issue, he should be severely punished and brought to his duty by the king. He follows Manu, with his caste discriminations, in his rules on oaths and admission of evidence. He reduces ordeals to a precise system—a subject which is dealt with yet more thoroughly by Bṛihaspati. In the administration of justice, the assessors are given a more important position than in Manu. Nârada is fuller on procedure than his predecessors,¹ but he mostly agrees with Bṛihaspati.

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¹ On Dharma Śāstras in general, supra, Ch. X.

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¹ Nârada, XII, 95; XVI, 20; XVIII, 12, 54, etc.

Bṛihaspati

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Bṛihaspati who cannot be placed later than the sixth or seventh century A.D. may be taken as the typical Brahmanical exponent of law and procedure during this period. In the hall of justice in the fort, facing the east, the court should be held all through the morning hours till noon, every day except the holidays. Bṛihaspati divides courts into four classes: (1) stationary, (2) those moving about, (3) those presided over by the chief judge, and (4) those directed by the king.²

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² Bṛihaspati, I, 2-3. See also I, 1, for Bṛihaspati's idea of the need of judicial administration.

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As in Manu, the king should be assisted by three assessors.¹ But the popular element enters into the administration of justice in a much more pronounced manner than in Manu. Cultivators, artizans, trade-guilds, artists, money-lenders, dancers, religious mendicants and even robbers are told to administer their disputes according to rules of their own professions. Families, craft-guilds and local assemblies may be authorised by the king to dispose of law-suits among their members except such as concern violent crimes. Brihaspati also provides for appeal from meetings of kindred to companies, thence to assemblies and finally to the royal judges on the ground that the lower courts have not duly investigated or deliberated on the cause. The law which the royal courts are told to administer takes account of sacred injunctions, custom and equity. Thus, the king in the court is exhorted to listen to the Purāṇas, codes of law, and rules of polity, to act on the principles of equity, and abide by the opinion of the judges and the doctrine of the sacred law. It was a political necessity to preserve intact the time-honoured institutions of every country, caste and family. "Otherwise the people would rise in rebellion, the subjects would become disaffected towards their rulers; and the army and treasure would be destroyed." Among those who are not to be consulted in adjudication are people ignorant of local customs. A little later, Brihaspati expressly lays down that no sentence should be passed merely according to the letter of the law, but the circumstances of a case must be closely examined. Local custom, however, can be overruled by royal edicts, which thus constitute a distinct source of law. As in Manu, the law on defamation and adultery is vitiated by considerations of caste. Brihaspati counsels itinerant courts. "For persons roaming the forest, a court should be held in the forest; for warriors, in the camp; and for merchants, in the caravan.”¹ It is needless to follow Bṛhaspati into rules of procedure, etc., for they correspond to those enunciated by Manu. But it may be pointed out that, according to him, law-suits fall into two categories, those originating from disputes regarding wealth and those relating to injuries. Roughly, the distinction corresponds to civil and criminal suits.² In the absence of the king, some Brāhmaṇa versed in law is to act as judge.³

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¹ Ibid., I, 20.

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¹ Ibid., I, 26—31, 23—25, 33; II, 28, 12, 24, 26-27; XX, 5—15; XXIV, 12. Parāśaramādhava, pp. 17-18.

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² Ibid., II, 5.

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³ Ibid., II, 32.

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Like Manu and Nārada, Bṛhaspati stresses the need of evidence, classifies witnesses and hurls anathemas against perjury, but he thinks that various motives, affection, anger or avarice, may render the testimony of witnesses nugatory. When doubts arise with regard to documentary and oral evidence, and when reasoning itself fails, particularly when the offence in question has been committed at night or in solitary places, ordeals should be employed. While Manu had been content with two, Bṛhaspati enumerated nine of them, to be administered according to the character of the accused and the nature of the charge. An ordeal must always be administered according to the established rule by persons versed in the regulations. “If it is administered against the rule, it is ineffective as a means of proving what ought to be proved.” In the system of Bṛhaspati there was a general rule that if a certain amount of money or property in question justified an ordeal for a low-class man, double the amount justified it for a middle-class man and four times as much for a high-class man. In the ordeal by balance a person who, when weighed a second time, retained his original weight, was declared innocent while he who weighed heavier was adjudged guilty. It was held that the weight of sin made the difference. "Should the scale break, or the balance or beam, or iron hooks split, or the strings burst, or the transverse beam split, he would have to be declared guilty." In the ordeal by water, an individual was immersed in water and three arrows were discharged. In the ordeal by poison, one had to digest poison " given to him according to rule, without the application of spells or antidotes." One should drink three handfuls of water in which the weapon of one's special deity had been bathed. If in a week or fortnight, no calamity happened to him, to his son, wife, or property, he was declared innocent. Or, after a fast and purification, one should chew grains of rice when the sun is not visible. If what he spits out is pure, he is innocent; if it is mixed with blood, he is guilty. If one can take out a hot piece of gold out of heated oil and butter, without one's fingers trembling or being blistered, one is declared innocent. To prove his innocence, one accused of theft should lick with his tongue without injury an iron ploughshare twelve palas in weight. The lighter ordeals are reserved for Brāhmaṇas and women. The Hindu law-givers tend to regard the oath as a kind of ordeal on the ground that it invokes supernatural agency.¹ The law of procedure in Brihaspati bears a family resemblance to the provisions in the Dharmasthīya book of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra.

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¹ Ibid., X, 1—33. For actual practice, cf. Yuan Chwang (Watters, I, 172) who, writing in the seventh century, speaks of four ordeals—water, fire, weighing and poison. His description of them is different from that of the Smṛitis. See infra, Ch. XIII.

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A word may be said of the other Smṛitis which assumed their present shape perhaps a little later but which faithfully continue the old tradition. Their number is legion. Yājñavalkya had mentioned a number of Dharma Śāstras including those of Atri, Harita, Uśanas, Aṅgiras, Yama, Samavrata, Kātyāyana,

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Other Smṛitis.

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Parāśara, Vyāsa, Śaṅkha, Likhita, Dakṣa, Śātātapa. Vriddha Gautama counted 56 or 57 teachers of the law and Nanda Paṇḍita, author of the Vaijayantī, 57. Mitramiśra in his Vīramitrodaya speaks of 18 primary, 18 secondary and 21 other Smritis.¹ Other lists, which are sometimes shorter, do not always agree. Thus Parāśara substitutes Kāśyapa, Gārgya and Pracetā for Yama, Brihaspati and Vyāsa. The Padma Purāṇa omits Atri and adds others to make up its list of thirty-six. Of all these, one of the most important, though rather late, is that of Parāśara.² He recognises no finality in law. It changes from time to time. Every age has its own scheme of duties which the government should enforce. In his own scheme of the social order he seeks elaborately to define the occupations which different classes of people may follow under different circumstances. Government should be conducted according to law. In laying down the law, the king must pay heed to Brāhmaṇas. A king should protect the earth, maintain order with a stern hand and conquer the forces of his enemies. Taxes should be mild.³

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¹ Forty-six of these appear in the list of Stenzler and forty-seven in that of Roer. The Ānanda Āśrama of Poona has published a collection of twenty-seven Smritis including the Devala which was composed in Sindh about the time of the Arab invasion in the 8th century A.D.

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² There is a still later work called Parāśarīya Dharma Śāstra, highly tinged with sectarianism. It is politically valueless. Parāśara deals mainly with Ācāra and Prāyaścitta.

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³ Parāśara Smriti (ed. Vināyak Dharmādhikārin with the Vidvanmandhara commentary, Benares, 1913), I, 33, 61–67; II, 2, 12–14; VIII, 28–29; X, 5–41; XI, 50.

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Atri, describing the duties of various castes, wants a king to punish those who forsake their Dharma.⁴ The king should constantly examine the virtue and sin in the various castes.⁵ Those (Brāhmaṇas) who do not perform sacrifices are declared thieves and those who bestow alms on them should be punished by the king.¹ Harita declares as usual that a Kṣatriya should protect his subjects righteously, should duly celebrate sacrifices, and should be devoted to study.² Likhita promises high spiritual rewards to those who excavate tanks, plant trees and perform other such works of public beneficence.³ Vyāsa proclaims the supremacy of Brāhmaṇas in transcendent terms and recommends lavish gifts to them.⁴ Śaṅkha is content with the usual remarks on castes and orders.⁵ Uśanas, Aṅgiras, Yama, Samavrata, Dakṣa, and Śātātapa devote themselves mainly to Śrāddha and other ceremonies. Nor have the rest of the Smritis any political significance. The Dharma Śāstra doctrine exercised a good deal of influence on royal policy. Apart from *a priori* reasons, the inscriptions amply testify to the fact. Not to speak of Vyāsa’s imprecatory verses which occur in numberless grants, the inscriptions sometimes expressly refer to Dharma Śāstras.⁶

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⁴ Atri, I, 12–15, 17.

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⁵ Ibid., I, 27.

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¹ Ibid., I, 22-23.

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² Harita, II, 2-5, see also II, 6-10.

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³ Likhita, 1-4.

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⁴ Vyāsa, IV, 10, 16, 31.

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⁵ Śaṅkha, I, 2.

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⁶ For Gupta times, see Fleet, op. cit., pp. 147, 168, 182; for the sixth century A.D. Ep. Ind., III, 80-81, 322; Ind. Ant., IX, p. 48; VIII, p. 97, 303; XVII, p. 198; for the ninth century, Ep. Ind., IV, p. 346; VI, 20; for the south from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, Epigraphia Carnatica, IV, p. 62; V, 22, 151; VII, 50, 59, 85; IX, 85; XI, 13, 41, 45, etc., etc.

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The composition of the Purāṇas extends even over a longer period than that of the Smritis. From very ancient times there existed accounts of cosmic creation and regal dynasties or heroes in a more or less popular form. The Atharvaveda speaks of Itihāsa-Purāṇa which was, later, loosely called a fifth Veda. The Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra places the Itihāsa-

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Purāṇa on the prince's curricula of study. Purāṇas are frequently mentioned in literature and in the Smritis. It was, however, roughly between the fifth and tenth centuries A.D. that after constant editing, re-editing, additions and subtractions, the Puranic tradition assumed something like its present shape in eighteen books, divided into three schools after Brahman, Śiva and Viṣṇu. Interpolations, however, continued to be made for long afterwards and influences as late as the 16th century A.D. are clearly visible. According to tradition, the Purāṇas comprised altogether 4,00,000 couplets ranging from the 81,000 of the Skanda to 9,000 of the Mārkaṇḍeya but the actual number in each Purāṇa does not always agree with the orthodox computation.¹

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¹ For the size, etc., the Matsya Purāṇa, LIII, 13–58.

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Brahmanical writers will have it that every Purāṇa must deal with primary creation or cosmogony, secondary creation or cosmogony of worlds including chronology, genealogy of gods and patriarchs, reigns of Manus and the history of the solar and lunar dynasties. An ampler analysis splits up these subjects into ten categories but it is applicable really to Upa-Purāṇas, the eighteen sub-Purāṇas, which were composed on the model

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The Matsya Purāṇa preserves the tradition that the Purāṇas were composed after the Mahābhārata by Vyāsa. The Kūrma Purāṇa gives a list of nineteen Purāṇas See also Wilson, Introduction to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. For an 11th century view of Purāṇas, Alberunī, tr. Sachau, Vol. I, 130-31. Recently there has set in a reaction against the nineteenth century underrating of Purāṇas. For instance, Rapson thinks that they have preserved, though in a perverted form, an independent tradition which supplements the priestly tradition of the Vedas and Brāhmaṇas, and which goes back to the same period (Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 302). The Puranic data have been worked out by Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali Age; Ancient Indian Historical Tradition: various articles in J. R. A. S. The Sthala-Purāṇas or Mahātmyas are legion but they contain hardly any administrative data.

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of Purāṇas. The Kūrma Purāṇa and the Śrīmad Bhāgavata give slightly different lists of contents. The political matter introduced into the various sections of the Purāṇas is true only in a general way for a few centuries and unfortunately, directly adds very little to our knowledge of the working of institutions. Some inferences can be drawn from them but it has to be borne in mind that the Purāṇas draw profusely on the epics, including the Harivaṃśa of the Mahābhārata, on the Smṛitis, Nīti literature and, in some cases, on one another. The Purāṇas give many lists of universal sovereigns, some of whom like Manu, Sagara, Yayāti, Prithu, Dilipa are mythical, while others may be historical, perhaps only suzerains on a small scale.¹

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¹ Kūrma Purāṇa, XX, 31; Padma, IV, 110-18; Brahmāṇḍa. LXIX, 1-3; Mārkaṇḍeya, CXI, 13, etc., etc.

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Politically, the Agni Purāṇa is one of the most remarkable. But in the relevant passages it is largely indebted to the Mahābhārata, to the Smṛitis and to Kāmandaka, the author of the Nītisāra. It thinks of the state as a culture-state, a moral association, with the king, that is, the government, as the supreme instrument for promoting welfare. It describes the qualities and duties of the king in the usual idealistic style. His life is to be one perpetual vow of ameliorating the condition of his subjects. In himself he must be an example of moral discipline, character, energy and fortitude. In particular, he should take care to protect his subjects against the extortions and oppressions of his own officers and favourites and of the usurers.²

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² Agni Purāṇa (ed. Manmath Nath Dutt). Uttarakhaṇḍa, CCXVIII, 2-3; CCXX, 22-23; CCXXII, 15-18; CCXXIII, 4-13; 22-26; CCXXV, 1-17; CCXXIX, 6-12. For the king's divinity, CCXVI, 17-20. For the place of politics in the Scheme of Sciences, I, 14-17, also CCXXI.

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The Agni, like other Purāṇas, gives elaborate descriptions of the sacrifices and ceremonies which should accompany the consecration of a king. It reproduces numbers of Vedic texts for citation and, on the whole, adheres to the old tradition. Only a few additional details are given. Broadly speaking, the ceremonies are divided into (1) those of Aindra Śānti, performed on the day preceding the consecration, and (2) those performed on the day of consecration. According to this Purāṇa, the consecration should be performed a year after the actual accession to power and the occasion should be signalised by a proclamation of protection to all. The king might celebrate his birthday every year in grand style. He might perform the Abhiṣeka for his successor. The king should every day see his subjects, consider the daily reports of income and expenditure and receive Brāhmaṇas, ministers, officers and others presented by the usher of the court. Every day he should consult his ministers on weighty matters and preside over the court of justice.¹

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¹ CCXVIII, 4 - 34; CCXIX; CCXXV. For mantras to be used on the consecration of a king, CCXIX; for the merit of building golden temples, XXXVIII; for the consecration of tanks and ponds, LXIV.

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Princes should be instructed in the science of war and the arts of general utility as well as in the moral sciences. They should be taught fine arts in the company of courtiers. If they were not amenable to education, the king should bind them down in a "prison of pleasure" to keep them from mischief. In any case, guards should be set to watch the actions and movements of princes.² The Agni Purāṇa jumbles up state and household officials and particularly mentions the Minister, Treasurer, Ambassador, Keeper of the Royal Elephants, Keeper of Stables, Masters of the Castles and Fortresses, Royal Physicians, Writers. A Brâhmaṇa or a Kṣatriya should be appointed Commander-in-chief, while men of noble descent should occupy the positions of chamberlains and door-keepers. There should be a master of the kitchen who should live in the house where food is cooked for the king. Over and above his efficiency in cuisine and experience of affairs of the world, his supreme qualification is fond attachment to the king. The bearer of the royal betel-vessel may be either a man or a woman who should feel a real attachment to the king. Behind this insistence on affection lies the apprehension of poison being administered to the king. The seraglio employs many women and eunuchs in the offices of ushers and others. Many of the royal officials and servants seem to be hereditary. For the higher officers the Purāṇa prescribes the usual intellectual and moral qualifications. Only it bars atheists from all employment under the king. For local government the old Dharma Śāstra and Arthaśāstra schemes are adopted. The designations are interesting and probably correspond to facts in some locality. The head of the village is called Grâmâdhipati; the superintendent of ten villages is known as Daśagrâmâdhipati; of a hundred villages as Śatagrâmâdhipati and the yet higher officer as Viśveśvara. Their remunerations are to be fixed according to the importance of their charges. A village should be 100 dhanus in extent and a town 200 or 300 dhanus. A town should be enclosed by a wall which a camel could not look over.¹

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² Ibid., CCXXV.

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¹ Ibid., CXIX, 1-8; CCXVII, 20-22; CCXX; CCXXI; CCXXIII, 1-4.

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The Agni Purāṇa mainly follows its predecessors in laying down the principles and prescribing the items of taxation—the land revenue, the customs, the toll on sales and purchases, the division of treasure-trove, unclaimed property, etc. One-Revenue.

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fifth is to be charged on gold; one-sixth on animals, articles of perfumery, cereals, flowers, roots, fruits, leaves, pot-herbs, hays, bamboos, hides, wicker-works, earthen pots, stone-vessels, honey, meat and clarified butter. The sale of female slaves is recognised and a duty according to the time and country of their importation is prescribed. Brâhmaṇas are not to be taxed under any circumstances; they are always to be protected and cherished.¹

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¹ Ibid., CCXXIII, 23–29; CCXXIII, 14–16; CCXII, 15–18, 30–32.

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On civil and criminal law and on procedure, the Agni Purâṇa dilates at enormous length but there are only a few ideas which are peculiar to it, which are likely to have a practical bearing and which alone need be noted. There are four sources of law—the Scriptures, custom, the practice of the righteous and royal commands. Treason on the part of feudatories or governors should be punished by amputation of the hands and by impalement.² Enemies of the public good should be executed publicly, while all other sentences should be carried out privately.³ In the royal court, assessors and ordeals are admitted. So we have the involved statement that a tribunal should consist of the eight limbs of a lawsuit—the king, the judge, the jurors, the scriptures, the astrologer, the clerk, gold, fire, and water.⁴ Witnesses should belong to the same caste or social order as the party which cites them.⁵

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² Ibid., CCXXVII, 1–17, 40–48; CCLIII, 3, 50.

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³ CCXLI, 47–53.

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⁴ Ibid., CCLIII, 3–66.

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⁵ Ibid., CCLV, 2. On civil and criminal law in general, CCLIV–CCLVIII.

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The relations of the feudatories to the suzerain power in the Agni Purâṇa are specially noteworthy. In times of war they must be at the beck and call of the sovereign. They should mark out the sovereign's friends from his foes. They should rally supporters to the king's banner and collect troops for him. They must help him with all their resources. They should appease the public feeling for him.¹

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¹ Ibid., CCXLI, 16-28.

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On foreign affairs the Purāṇa merely embellishes the precepts of its predecessors. Only its remarks on ambassadors are striking. They are divided into three classes: (1) Śāsanārhaka, those charged simply to deliver a message, (2) Mitrārtha, those charged to conduct negotiations according to instructions from headquarters, and (3) Niḥsṛiṣṭārtha or plenipotentiaries, those who are authorised to settle affairs according to their own lights. All ambassadors, of whatever grade, must observe the proper etiquette.²

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² Ibid., CXXXVI, 17-25; CCXXVI, 4-8; CCXLI, 1-12. For descriptions of military tactics, strategy, manœuvres, auspicious auguries, omens, etc., CCXL, 7-32; CCXXXII-CCXXXIII, CCXXXVI. CCLII for thirty-two varieties of military art. For forts, CCXXII. For the seven factors of government, CCXXXIX.

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The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa,³ one of the earliest, is free from sectarianism, but it wants the rules of the social order to be enforced with the utmost strictness. All must be kept within bounds, within their particular duties and occupations. A royal heir-apparent who married a Vaiśyā forfeited his right to the throne and had to content himself with Vaiśya occupations.⁴ The Purāṇa emphasises the duty and wisdom of conciliating the subjects. But whosoever is an obstacle in the way of promoting popular welfare, be it father or preceptor, kinsman or friend, should be killed by the king.¹

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³ Wilson assigned the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa to the 9th or 10th century A.D. Pargiter (Introduction to his translation, XIII-XIV) places it in the fourth century. Perhaps the 6th century is the most probable date.

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⁴ Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, XXVIII, 33-36; CXIII, 19-21.

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¹ Ibid., XXVII, 1; CXXXI, 27-28. For the king's divinity, dignity, qualifications and duties, for ministers, officers, spies, etc., all discussed in the usual refrain, XVII, 21; XXVII, 1—16; 21—31. For punishments in this and the future life, XV, 1—4, 6, 13—16, 19.

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The Vâyu Purâṇa, one of the oldest like the Mârkaṇḍeya, traces the history of man from the golden age, through its gradual degeneration, to the terrible Kaliyuga. The social order, supposed to be based on hard psychological facts, utility and divine sanction, must be relentlessly enforced by the government.²

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² Vâyu Purâṇa (ed. Râjendra Lâl Mitra), Canto VIII, 60-61, 64-65, 78—80, 84—90, 92--97. For details of constructions advocated, 98—123; for agriculture, 142-43; for caste, 157—59; for the scheme of duties, 161—64.

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The Viṣṇu Purâṇa throws no additional light on institutions but it gives an interesting picture of a primeval golden age with its bliss and plenty, its gradual degeneration into what is called ‘civilisation’—the origin of society, caste, agriculture, industry, commerce, houses, villages and towns, etc., etc. It tends to bring out that the government exists to enforce the social order and to lead and educate the people into righteousness. It repeats the story of Veṇa from the Mahâbhârata as a warning against tyrannical rule.³

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³ Viṣṇu Purâṇa (ed. T. R. Vyâsâchârya, Bombay, 1904), VI, 6, 17—20. Also Canto XIII.

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The Matsya Purâṇa repeats the same early history of man in yet greater detail and enforces the same conclusion.⁴ It looks with horror on Śûdra kingship and counts it as one of the curses of the degenerate Kali age.⁵ It will appear that Śûdra kingship was a fact at the time. For the rest it repeats its predecessors and reproduces whole sections from Kâmandaka.¹

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⁴ Matsya Purâṇa, Canto XLVII.

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⁵ Ibid., CXLIV, 30—47.

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¹ Ibid., Cantos CCXXII-CCXVI, for state-craft in general. On finance, law and punishments, CCXXVII-CCXXVIII.

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In the Varâha Purâṇa the notices of the creation of the world and the reigns of kings are rather brief and dispersed.

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The Varâha Purâṇa. It mentions several kings who, tired of worldly prosperity, installed their sons on the throne and departed for the forest. It dogmatises on Brahmanic supremacy as usual.²

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² Varâha Purâṇa (ed. H P. Sastri), CCXVIII, 18-20.

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The Kûrma Purâṇa has a long version of the golden age and its gradual degeneration. It exhausts its vocabulary in its denunciation of the Kali age. Speak-

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The Kûrma Purâṇa. ing in the future tense in the Puranic style, it laments that in that age Brâhmaṇas will associate with Śûdras, and join them in the performance of religious rites. "Princes surrounded by Śûdras, shall persecute the Brâhmaṇas." Śûdras will occupy higher positions than Brâhmaṇas. All alike will insult and disparage the Vedas and gods.³ These fulminations probably point to Buddhist or Jaina ascendancy in certain quarters. They leave no doubt that in certain ages and regions Brahmanic supremacy was undermined, that Śûdras attained to the highest positions and guided the

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³ Kûrma Purâṇa (ed. Nîlamani Mukhopâdhyâya), Sec. I, Cantos XXIX-XXX.

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The Svayambhû Purâṇa. policy of the state. The Svayambhû Purâṇa points to the same conclusion.⁴ On this matter Puranic evidence unexpectedly corrects the impression which the Dharma Śâstras and even classical literature tend to produce.

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⁴ Svayambhû Purâṇa, Canto VII.

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The Padma Purāṇa discusses Nīti or policy, royal duties, diplomacy, manœuvres, etc., in the usual style.¹

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¹ Padma Purāṇa (ed. Mahādeva Chimanji Apte), Vol. III, Cantos CCXVI—CCXXIX.

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The Padma Purāṇa.

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It lacks originality. Nor is the Nṛisiṃha Purāṇa more enlightening, though, *inter alia*, it gives a version of the story of Rāma.

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Nṛisiṃha Purāṇa.

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The Garuḍa Purāṇa has some interesting political passages but they yield no fresh information.² Some of the Purāṇas like the Liṅga and Brahma-vaivarta contain hardly anything political. The Brahma Purāṇa, quoted in Vīramitrodaya, Rājanītiprakāśa adds that the king after the ceremony of consecration went round the capital on an elephant, re-entered the palace, and offered honour to the elders of the city.³

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² Garuḍa Purāṇa, CXI—CXIV, CXLIII, CXLIV. It looks on Nītiśāstra as a science of general morals (CVIII, 1).

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³ Rājanītiprakāśa, p. 46.

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The Garuḍa Purāṇa, etc.

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As their title indicates, the Upa-purāṇas depend on the Purāṇas. Only two of them need be noticed in connection with political institutions. The Bṛhaddharma repeats the early history of man, and stresses caste. Relating the episode of Veṇa with abundant details, it sanctions regicide as the last resort against tyranny.⁴ On the other hand, it stands for a firm government. If the king has to slaughter in the course of protection, he incurs no sin. The world yields to the control only of those who wield the rod.⁵ But Brāhmaṇas, women, old men and children are exempt from capital punishment.⁶ No interest on loans

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⁴ Bṛhaddharma Purāṇa (ed. H. P. Śāstrī), XII, 5—42; I, 4—6, 14, 22-23; II, 8—62; XIII, 13—49, 54—60; XIV, 3—80.

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⁵ Ibid., III, 10 et seq., III, 6-7, for the divine nature of the king.

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⁶ Ibid., III, 28—33. For supernatural punishments, 34—37.

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The Upa-Purāṇas.

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should be charged from Brāhmaṇas. Śūdras should be debarred from the study of sacred literature. The brothers of a king should not be given too great a latitude. No minister should continue too long in office. The revenue should be spent on projects of Dharma, on the royal household, and on the succour of Vipras. The government should keep itself in constant readiness for war and should maintain its forces in perfect order.¹

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¹ Ibid., III, 41–49, 51, 54; IV, 10, 18–24. ² Bṛhannāradīya Purāṇa (ed. Hṛṣikeśa Śāstrī), Canto XXII. ³ The Śrīmad Bhāgavata inculcates the worship of Kṛṣṇa and is greatly indebted to the Harivaṃśa and the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. A late passage in the Padma Purāṇa says that Vyāsa, the traditional author of the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas, composed the Bhāgavata last of all, and put into it the essence of all. Of the numerous commentaries on this work, that by Śrīdhara Svāmin is the best. ⁴ Śrīmad Bhāgavata, IV, 13, 23. ⁵ Ibid., IV, 14, 30–35.

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The Bṛhannāradīya Upa-Purāṇa, one of the latest and most orthodox, prescribes different dresses for different castes. It declares that Dharma varies according to æons and that in the Kali-yuga inter-caste marriage, sea-voyage, Vānaprastha, etc., are forbidden.²

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Hindu tradition reckons the Śrīmad Bhāgavata among the Purāṇas, though it is really an independent work.³ It preaches the doctrine of passive obedience,⁴ but qualifies it by approving of the fate which befell Veṇa.⁵ It is the king's duty to educate his subjects into virtue, to 'protect' all, to set every one to his duty, and to chastise the undutiful.⁶ In an interesting passage it derives the king's right to rule from his setting up idols of gods. The evidence of inscriptions shows that many kings founded or endowed temples with unstinted profusion.¹ The enumeration of the emblems of sovereignty in the Bhâgavata is interesting. There is the Camara, Vyajana,—fans—Śaṅkha or conch-shell, chatra or umbrella, the crown, Siṁhâsana or throne, Śayana or couch.²

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¹ For this and some other political touches. Ibid., IV, 2-3, 7-8, 11-19, 21-26, 45; XI, 3, 14-15, 17, 19.

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² Ibid., X, 26, 61.

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The Bṛhannāradīya Purāṇa.

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The Śrīmad Bhāgavata.

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A few classical writers who belong to this period may be noticed. Bhâravi, who lived probably in the sixth century A.D., has a good deal of political wisdom but is not very enlightening on institutions. From the account of Duryodhana's rule given by Yudhiṣṭhira's agent in the first canto of the Kirâtârjunîya, it will appear that kings would sometimes associate their brothers and other near relations in the task of administration. Spies and secret agents were employed in large numbers, and earnest efforts were made to win popular loyalty and attachment.³

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³ On the poem of Bhâravi, F. W. Thomas, J.R.A.S., 1917, pp. 869 et seq. For political references, Kirâtârjunîya, I, 5, 7, 9-10, 13-14, 16, 21, 29-46; II, 1-52. Also Canto III. Bhâravi is mentioned in the Aihole Inscription of 634 A.D. (Ep. Ind., VI, No. 1).

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Daṇḍin who flourished probably in the sixth or in the seventh century A.D. represents a decadent stage in literary style and in political wisdom.⁴ His Daśakumâracarita, however, is not without a few points of interest for the student of institutions. We hear of a king of Magadha who had three ministers. The office of minister was sometimes hereditary and was recognised as such. At its worst, a royal court could be the hot-bed of intrigue, jealousy, favouritism. Poison and the dagger would be freely resorted to and the life, safety, and reputation of all would be endangered.

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⁴ On the date of Daṇḍin, Pâthak, Ind. Ant., XLI, p. 235. Keith, Classical Sanskrit Literature, 70-73. The Avantisundarî Kathâ, lately discovered, develops the same plot as the Daśakumâracarita and appears to be Daṇḍin's work. It has been edited along with its summary by an unknown hand, by Râmakṛiṣṇa Kavi, in the Dakṣiṇa-bhâratî Series, No. 3, 1924.

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Bhartṛihari who, according to the Chinese I-tsing, died about 650 A.D., has just a few political maxims in his Nītiśataka but throws no light on institutions. Yet there may be something in the tradition that he alternated between asceticism and worldly life.¹

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¹ Bhartṛihari, Nītiśataka, 46-47.

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Another contemporary poet, Subandhu, author of Vāsavadattā,² paints king Cintāmaṇi as an embodiment of moral discipline, beneficent ‘protection,’ martial glory, and as a patron of poetry and learning.³ Like so many other heroes of classical Sanskrit literature, Cintāmaṇi is a universal ruler who has humbled all the princes of the earth. It was only he and the elephant of the north that could be called rulers of the world.⁴ Behind this imagery there seems to be a feudalistic organisation. Among the king’s servants there are bearers of betel which by this time seems to have become a necessary article of luxury for the upper classes.⁵

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² Bāṇa, in the Preface to his Harṣacarita, refers to Subandhu’s work. Gray (Introduction to his translation) places him in the sixth or seventh century A.D. See also Keith, J. R. A. S., 1914, pp. 1102 et seq., and Classical Sanskrit Literature, p. 77. K. B. Pathak, Ind. Ant., XL, p. 170, holds that Subandhu was a contemporary of the Guptas—Kumāragupta, Skandagupta and Bālāditya. D. R. Bhandarkar (Ind. Ant., XLI, pp. 1-2) holds Vasubandhu to be the correct reading of the author’s name. Vāsavadattā is an ākhyāyikā which, as defined in the Sāhityadarpaṇa, should have verse in some places and prose in others. It has come down in two recensions, the Northern and the Southern. Śivarāma Tripāṭhī’s Kaṇcanadarpaṇa commentary on Vāsavadattā belongs to the eighteenth century (Louis H. Gray, J. A. O. S., XXIII, p. 57).

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³ Vāsavadattā, tr. Gray, pp. 47 et seq.

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⁴ Ibid., pp. 48-49.

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⁵ Ibid., p. 63.

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From the 4th century A.D, commences a long line of story-books, presumably under the impulse given by the Buddhist Jātakas and Avadānas. But the theory that the Indian tales were first composed in some form of Prākrit and later turned into Sanskrit has now been shown to be entirely untenable. The main purpose of the stories is to impart ethical instruction through the words and actions of human beings, animals and birds. The Tantrākhyāyika, preserved in Kashmīr and perhaps composed there, is, in any case, earlier than the sixth century A.D. and may be older. It was turned into a yet more popular version in the Pañcatantra, attributed to Viṣṇuśarman. It was probably an earlier version of the present Pañcatantra which was translated into Pahlavi about the middle of the 6th century A.D. and thence into old Syriac in 570 and into Arabic in 750, the last rendering in its turn being translated into Old Spanish in 1251, which, finally was the source of Latin and, later, other European versions. In India the Pañcatantra has influenced all subsequent literature of the didactic tale.¹ We learn from the prologue in which king Amṛtaśakti of Mahilāropya arranges the education of his three sons, that princes were generally made over to Brāhmaṇa Paṇḍitas who taught them grammar, literature, Niti and other subjects. From the tales one can gather a good deal of the current political wisdom. Some kings nursed their kingdoms, others were too exacting in their demands on the subjects. Experience showed that the prosperity of monarchs was bound up with that of the people. Incidentally, we have an interesting remark that a fort was more useful than a thousand elephants and a hundred thousand horses. No other passages need be quoted. In spite of their intrinsic charm, as political maxims, they are not valuable for the study of practical institutions.¹

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¹ On the Pañcatantra, Brown, J. A. O. S., Vol. 39, pp. 1 et seq. See also Max Müller's Essay on the Migration of Fables. Benfrey's work on the Pañcatantra inaugurated what may be called the science of folklore—its motifs and migrations.

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¹ See for instance, Book I, Tale VII, pp. 41, 43.

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Perhaps to the seventh century A.D. belongs the Probodha Candrodaya.² Though a spiritual drama, it contains an interesting account of the preparations for the king's procession. "Sprinkle the pavement of precious stones," so goes the command, "with water impregnated with sandalwood; open the fountains that their streams may play around; hang up festoons of large brilliant diamonds, and let the flag which bears the bow of Indra wave on the top of the royal residence."

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² For the date, J. Taylor, Introduction to the translation, second edition, Bombay, p. 4.

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