The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c20.124

c20.124

Only a few other works need be noticed. In the Nalodaya wrongly ascribed to Kâlidâsa, a kingdom is treated like private property which can be pawned, lost and regained at dice. The theme recurs in Trivikramabhaṭṭa’s Nalacampû. The same story was worked out towards the close of the 12th century A.D. by Śrī Harṣa into the Naiṣadhīya, one of the five Mahâkâvyas of Sanskrit Literature.⁴ The dramatic piece Satya Hariścandra Nāṭaka⁵ also regards the realm as private property which can be given away to a saint as if it were a piece of furniture. Ballālasena’s Bhoja Prabandha,⁶ reproducing the old political maxims holds forth the king as the guide, teacher and exemplar of his subjects.⁷ Kavirāja’s Rāghavapāṇḍavīya simultaneously relates the tales of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata and thus represents the height of artificiality.⁸ It echoes the old politics and is hardly representative of its age.