The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.35

c18.35

The account of Ṛiṣabha, the first of the twenty-four Jaina Tīrthakaras and his son Bharata, the first of the Cakravartins, shows that the small state was the rule but the tendency to expansion brought about an extensive relationship of suzerain and vassal. Feudalism, in fact, is rampant in the Ādi Purāṇa. Not only is the consecration of the suzerain performed primarily by feudatories, but the latter are expected to give him valuable presents on the occasion of his birth-day which, by the way, is celebrated with great festivities.¹ Ṛiṣabha is spoken of as seated on the throne, surrounded by hundreds of Rājas.² When he renounces the world, his example is followed by 360 “kings” who, later, fall from the truth.³ The Digvijaya of Bharata follows the usual course and is said to result in the acknowledgment of his suzerainty all round.⁴ A svayaṃvara is attended by numerous ‘kings,’ who, after it is over, indulge in a free fight.⁵ The facts of feudalism are brought out still more clearly in the Uttara Purāṇa as the continuation of Guṇabhadrācārya, in its relation to the whole as the Mahāpurāṇa, is called. It gives sketches of the twenty-three Tīrthakaras who followed Ṛiṣabha at long intervals of time, of Rāma, Kṛṣṇa (who are painted as Jaina worthies), Śreṇika, Jivandhara and numerous other Jaina heroes. Most of the personages were born in royal families and some of them wielded political power. Throughout the pages of the Uttarapurāṇa, feudatories abound. In hundreds they appear as the satellites of the suzerains.