The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.4

c18.4

As the subsequent analysis of the epigraphic and literary data will demonstrate, the political constitution and administrative structure of these different states were fundamentally similar. Everywhere one meets with the same feudal conditions of suzerainty and vassalage, nearly the same high officers with similar designations, the same fiscal and judicial system and, though not to the same extent, a similar attitude on the part of the state towards the people. Everywhere one meets with the same despotism—often benevolent but sometimes terrible and tyrannical. Everywhere is the same system of village administration—partly informal self-government and partly government and supervision from the district, provincial or central headquarters. This striking similarity is to be attributed to three causes. In the first place the northern plains were governed by the same geographical, economic and social conditions and therefore tended to evolve the same type of polity. In the second place, the human tendency to