The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.12

c18.12

modify the story of the Rāmāyaṇa in their plots. The Uttaracarita is a severe indictment of Rāma’s action in exiling his faithful wife, Sītā, to calm irrational rumours, but it admits that a king must pay high regard to popular sentiment and conciliate it at any cost. In the play spies move among the people to detect all shades of feeling and report them to the king who receives them personally. The brothers of a king are associated with him in the task of administration. No great royal sacrifice or ceremony can be complete without the presence of the queen. For the rest, Bhavabhūti, a Brāhmaṇa of the Taittirīya school of the Yajurveda, is an upholder of the orthodox Brahmanical order. In a scene which is hardly necessary to the main plot, King Rāma is thrown into consternation when he is told that a Śūdra was, contrary to Śāstric injunctions, practising penances and that this violation of Dharma was bringing ruin and death to some righteous folk. Rāma hurriedly takes up the bow, rushes to the scene and slays the Śūdra. The accessibility of the king is one of the remarkable features in Bhavabhūti’s plays.