The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c15.s2.6

c15.s2.6

The state (*rājya*) as an entity is grounded in the phenomenon of *aiśvarya* or *svāmitva*, i.e., sovereignty. The theory of the state, therefore, is fundamentally the philosophy of sovereignty. It may be exercised by the one or the few or the many. It may be vested in the long run in the legislature or the executive or the judiciary. It may be identical with the despotism of custom or the rule of positive law. It may manifest itself in and through a single organ as the *primum mobile* embracing all organized spheres or exhibited simultaneously in several co-existent co-ordinate corporations of the pluralistic universe. And finally, it may happen to be the monopoly of the bourgeoisie or of the proletariat. In any case, it is *aiśvarya* that ushers into being the phenomena called politics in societal existence. In political speculation the central problem obviously is the analysis of the great *śakti* (force) that constitutes the core of "political" relations, i.e., the *élan* of *samūha* (organized or collective) life.