The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c20.109

c20.109

In the latter half of the eleventh century A.D. Somadeva composed the Kathâsaritsâgara—‘the Ocean of the Rivers of Stories’—largely on the basis of the Brihatkathâ, which, as already noted, had been written by an earlier creative author Guṇâḍhya in the Paiśâcî dialect.⁶ In spite of some indubitable Buddhist influence, the tone and spirit of the Kathâsaritsâgara are mainly Brahmanic. It is, therefore, all the more interesting to find at the very outset a Brâhmaṇa sentenced to death by the king. The fictitious story serves to indicate that the Brahmanic claim to exemption from capital punishment was not always respected in practice. In the stories the ideal of kingship is high,⁷ but there were kings who fell into ease and luxury and left the cares of state to ministers.⁸