The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s3.t7.5

c10.s3.t7.5

But now, no epigraphist and archeologist entertain any doubts as to the complex, centralized and well-differentiated machinery of imperialism wielded by the Maurya, Gupta, Pâla, Chola and other *sârva-bhaumas* (world-emperors). One might then suggest, even on *a priori* grounds, that the extensive *Weltherrschaften* consolidated through the enterprise of men of “blood and iron” were not based exclusively on moral maxims, “declared” customs and unwritten laws like the tribal commonwealths of the earlier epochs of pre-Maurya and Vedic India.