The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.13

c18.13

About the eighth century also comes Māgha, author of the frightfully artificial Śiśupālabadha, one of the five Mahākāvyas of Sanskrit literature. The plot turns on Kṛṣṇa’s killing of his perverse foolhardy relative, Śiśupāla, but the poet, when not enchained to the epic, is subservient to Bhāravi. It is on the Kirātārjunīya that the political passages of the Śiśupālabadha are modelled. Māgha frankly disregards principles in politics. The government should be popular but, above all, efficient, firm and relentless. High ambition and self-interest, adroitly and unflinchingly pursued, swift, decisive action will make the king shine like the sun in the Maṇḍala of twelve kings.¹ The persistence of this school of real politics from the days of the Mahâbhârata onwards indicates that it always had some relation to facts. Machiavelli, said Acton, is "a constant influence" in Europe. His counterparts in ancient India were likewise a permanent phenomenon.