The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c8.38

c8.38

In his eleventh chapter Gautama enunciates his maxims on government.² His theory lends itself to a few inferences about the contemporary state of things. His precepts would fit only a small state. The state in which he lived was either very small or a small feudatory of a big one. In any case, it was a whole by itself. Gautama wants the king to learn the use of the bow and the management of chariots and to stand firm in battle.³ He pictures the king seated on a high pedestal surrounded by his subjects who occupy lower seats.⁴ In Gautama⁵ and other Brahmanical writers, the Purohita is an institution by himself. Later epigraphic testimony helps the conclusion that a king usually had a high priest. There were also other priests at the court for the performance of Vedic sacrifices.⁶ When we are told that the king is the master of all except Brāhmaṇas,⁷ and that he shall be worshipped by all except Brāhmaṇas,⁸ it is legitimate to infer that the Brāhmaṇas occupied a privileged position, though the extent of the privilege was, doubtless, exaggerated by priestly law-givers. Gautama wants that Brāhmaṇas who are versed in sacred lore and live up to its precepts, should be exempted by the king from corporal punishment, imprisonment, fines,