The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.104

c21.104

Within the limits prescribed by the force of circumstances and principles of social and political organisation, the Hindu state recognised no restrictions on its activities. While there was much which had been fashioned by other associations and on which the state could only set its imprimatur, the seal of its force, there was much else which it essayed to perform by means of its own resources. From time to time it elected to propagate Dharma, to inculcate and enforce morality, to maintain or improve the social order, to encourage learning, education and art, to subsidise various academies, to regulate industry and commerce, to foster agriculture, to relieve the distress from famine and calamities, to establish hospitals, rest-houses, charity-halls, etc. All this it essayed to do in addition to its primary functions of defence, order and justice. As Hindu theory emphasises times without number, the king was to be the father of the people. As the Aśokan inscriptions testify, the state was to be paternal in the widest sense of the term. Laissez-faire never commanded the allegiance of India. At its highest, the Hindu state was not merely a culture state but an all-pervasive moral and spiritual association. The glory of the situation was that in spite of the missionary zeal which moved its spirit at several epochs, it was generally tolerant of all forms of religious belief. A few bitter religious persecutors like Puṣyamitra and Śaśāṅka certainly flit across the stage of ancient India but, as a rule, Hindu monarchs, even burning enthusiasts like Aśoka, tolerated all creeds, preached toleration and even went to the extent of patronising sects other than their own. It seems that metaphysical inquiries pursued for long had resulted in the rise and persistence of so many divergent schools of thought that every one was forced to adjust himself to differences and to recognise the imperative necessity of toleration.