[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928) › c19.39 # The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c19.39 The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c19.39 - **Language:** English ### [c19.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928.c19.39) when the system of forced carriage of loads introduced by Śaṅkaravarman (V, 174) led to great oppression, the Brâhmaṇas started a fast to be exempted from it (VII, 1088, also VIII, 2513). Hunger-strike, in fact, became a common resort of people who felt themselves aggrieved. We find the doorkeeper of King Yaśaskara in the tenth century, reporting once at the close of business to his master, ‘A Brâhmaṇa stands outside to commit suicide unless he can see (you), though I have told him that your Majesty has done with business for to-day, and that there is time to-morrow for his communication’ (VI, 43). The king felt obliged to postpone his dinner and redress the Brâhmaṇa’s wrong (VI, 44—60). Once in the 11th century, the Brâhmaṇa counsellors of a king led the Purohitas and other Brâhmaṇas to go on a hunger-strike at Parihâsapura to bring about the fall of an obnoxious royal favourite (VII, 13). For the time being, the king yielded (VII, 15). When a bitter civil war between a king and his son in the 11th century threatened to plunge the country into ruin, Brâhmaṇas organised a solemn fast which forced the combatants to make peace for a while (VII, 400-401). It will appear that such a hunger-strike roused popular sympathy and had a tendency to inflame the public feeling. - [Previous: c19.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928.c19.38) - [Next: c19.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928.c19.40) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928.c19) ## Linked texts (1) - [Rājataraṅgiṇī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.kashmir.rajatarangini) — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928.c19.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.prasad-1928.c19.39) · Pramāṇa