The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.35

c21.35

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra. In the sixteenth century A.D. when the Muslim state in India, after three centuries of unsettlement, had caught up with antiquity, some of the prominent features of Hindu administration re-appeared. Survey and record of land, administrative sub-divisions, ubiquitous espionage, regular secretariats, pomp and glory of the court—all resembled the Hindu system. What was even more important, the regime of Sher Shāh and, following it, the Mughal empire revived the tradition of religious toleration, religious discussion and patronage of learning.¹ The Persian chroniclers have preserved long lists of the literate whom the generosity of the Mughal court raised above want, even to affluence.² As one studies the biographies of contemporary Hindi poets, one is struck by the large number of those who received the patronage of Muslim courts. In the lives of some of them, the only certain fact is that they visited the Mughal court at some time.³ Such was the force of the ancient tradition that the Mughal state could not lose sight of Sanskrit in its effort to encourage and guide education. One of the regulations recorded by Abul Fazl lays down that " in studying Sanskrit students ought to learn the Bayakaran (Vyâkaraṇa), Niyai (Nyâya), Bedânta (Vedânta) and Patañjal (Patañjali).¹ Once again, the state, in spite of its predominantly non-Hindu character, made an effort to regulate social life, though in a different manner. Akbar sought to abolish Satî or widow-burning and compulsory widowhood and to discourage child-marriage and polygamy.² Jahângîr forbade a new peculiar form of Satî prevalent among Hindu converts to Islâm who buried their widows with their husbands.³ He interdicted the practice of intermarriage between Hindus and Musalmâns prevalent in some hill-tracts.⁴ Another point at which the Muslim state now linked itself with antiquity was philanthropic activity. For instance, following the example of Akbar, Jahângîr commanded the erection of rest-houses and mosques, schools and hospitals and the appointment of physicians in big towns at the expense of the state.⁵ The Muslim sovereigns made numerous grants of land to poets, priests, scholars, and favourites The farmâns as they were called, have exactly the same significance as the Sanskrit Śāsana which used to denote grants in ancient India. In form some of the Muslim farmâns bear an astounding resemblance to Hindu