The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t30.2

c11.t30.2

Economically speaking, then, we have no grounds for believing that there was any class-discrimination of the type to which France, for instance, was a victim during the *ancien régime*. The Mauryas maintained no privileged class on anything like an appreciable scale. Nor would the government demands, though heavy, appear to have been oppressive or likely to sap the economic foundations of the society. On the contrary, there were certain distinctive services by which the state sought to develop the "staying power" and taxable capacity of the *prakriti*. We have spoken above of the socialistic trend of Hindu states as *dharmastaaten*, in so far as the sphere of their activity was coextensive with the range of human interests. It is necessary now to add that the same tendency is noticeable in two other directions.