The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.6

c18.6

imitation would conduce to the reproduction of the institutions of one region in others. The multiplicity of states meant a large field for political experimentation. The limits of the experiment, its terms of reference, so to say, were narrow, but within its range it would result in the growth of diverse institutions. Their success and failure would be naturally observed and the more successful ones might be adopted elsewhere. In the third place, the rise of big empires from time to time would assist the process of assimilation. The example of the suzerain would be followed by the vassals and the resulting uniformity of institutions would, in a large measure, survive the break-up of the empire. From the broad administrative point of view North India shows a unity which, from the strict political standpoint, is conspicuous by its absence. Another general conclusion which emerges from the data of this period is that the institutions show little development. The number of officers in a given region may be larger or smaller at one time than in other periods. The number, size and sphere of administrative departments might similarly vary. But there is no change of first-rate importance, no organic evolution, in the institutions of this epoch. When one has arranged all relevant inscriptions and literary documents in the chronological as well as regional order, and compared their data, one fails to detect any marked changes or developments. Monotony and stagnation seem to characterise the politics of these four centuries. This was, perhaps, only part of a general phenomenon. For instance, the literature of this period is wanting in originality, depth and movement. The Purāṇas or Upa-Purāṇas which had been fashioned in earlier epochs were perhaps added to but merely on the old lines. The Smṛitis which were composed during this period slavishly echo the earlier Dharma Śāstras for the most part. Where they attempt something on their own account, they fail miserably. The classical literature is not immune from this deadening tendency. The Kâvya is now bound hand and foot by artificial rules and has perforce to follow a prescribed model. Instead of inspiration and spontaneity, it only shows ingenuity and jugglery of words.¹ The drama which displayed such virility in the days of Bhâsa and which had reached its high-water mark in the Gupta age is now governed by mechanical rules. The Pañcasandhis replace natural movement.² A good deal of the literary talent of the period is spent on fashioning these rules of prosody, dramaturgy, etc., in classifying the subject-matter and reducing it to division and sub-division until life is replaced by machine. Other writers exhaust themselves in writing commentaries on old philosophic works, grammarians, the epics, Dharma Sûtras, Dharma Sâstras, Purânas and classical pieces. The time came when even commentaries were furnished with a code and composed almost mechanically Such were the general conditions under which government was carried on in North India from the eighth century onwards. For administration it is perhaps best to begin with literature and eke out the little which it has to offer.