The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c20.100

c20.100

The Jaina writer Merutuṅgācārya composed his Prabandha Cintāmaṇi⁴ only in the 14th century but he based his work on older tradition and may be noticed here. He is half-mythical in his earlier narration and, though he gains in sobriety as he descends to later times, he retains his passion for tales which rebound to the glory of Jainism. The old stories of fabulous kings reflect the traditional patronage of learning at Hindu courts.⁵ Ministers are seen offering wholesome advice to kings and giving them instruction from Niti works.⁶ On the other hand, the pages of Merutuṅgācārya show some royal officers oppressing the people. The king, however, comes to the rescue, redresses their grievances and grants them certain exemptions from taxes.¹ Palmists and astrologers are there at the court.² The ideal of a prince’s education is set forth when Bhoja is said to have studied all the treatises on ‘kingcraft,’ learnt the use of thirty-six weapons and “attained the further shore of the ocean of 72 accomplishments.”³ The king holds religious assemblies of representatives of all sects.⁴ There is a tragic touch in the fourth chapter where king Bhîmasena, unwilling to give the throne to Kumârapâla, his son by a low-caste woman, seeks to encompass his destruction. But the prince flies away.⁵