The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.124

c21.124

How far the Hindu state succeeded in this task is a question difficult to answer in the lamentable absence of adequate data. Nor is a single judgment possible. Owing to the vicissitudes of Indian history, each region and epoch should be discussed by itself. But for that there is not sufficient material. Taking a broad, comprehensive view, it is not possible to make any unqualified statement on the achievements of the Hindu state. It must be admitted that the despotism could occasionally lead to oppression, sometimes severe, even diabolical. Not to speak of the Râjatarangiṇî, Nâgasena remarks in Milinda-Pañha that “some people have left the world at the tyranny of kings.”¹ The personal expenditure of princes, the heavy bill of the palace, the pomp and pageantry of the court, and frequent wars are likely to have told grievously