The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.109

c21.109

the order of the heavenly bodies became in time the name for moral order and righteousness.¹ It sustained the world.² From the Brâhmaṇas the idea of Dharma passed to Buddhists. "Dharma is not simply law," says Rhys Davids speaking of Buddhism, "but that which underlies and includes the law—a word often most difficult to translate and best rendered by truth or righteousness."³ Mrs. Rhys Davids explained it as the normal, necessary, eternal order and law of all moral and spiritual things.⁴ The Jainas always define Dharma so as to include the law of inanimate matter. The Hindu view of Dharma as the foundation of order and, therefore, transcending all merely human authority could not fail to exercise some influence on rulers and to serve as a check on the passive loyalty of the people. Besides these moral checks there were what may be called the checks of expediency or enlightened self-interest. Princes who were often anxious to extend their dominions and who were always liable to aggression from neighbouring states must, for purposes of effective defence and offence alike, keep their subjects contented and well-disposed. In his discussion of foreign policy Kauṭalya emphasises that a king desirous of conquests should keep his subjects well-pleased lest they should be won over by the enemy. The presence of feudatories, ever ready to strike a blow for independence, was another check of expediency on a king. With his own subjects disaffected, a suzerain would hardly be able to control his feudatories. Lastly, the Hindu monarchy, like every other despotism, was tempered by assassination and insurrection. This explains the extraordinary severity of the law of treason in ancient India.