The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c15.3

c15.3

The seven categories, *svâmin* (sovereign), *amâtya* (minister), *suṛhit* (ally), *koṣa* (finance), *râṣṭra* (territory), *durga* (fortress), and *vala* (army) constitute the basis of all political speculation among Hindu philosophers. They form the *saptâmga*,¹ or the “seven limbs” of the body politic. The theory of the constitution is epitomized in the doctrine of *saptâmga*. An analysis of each of these seven constituents of a state, as well as their mutual relations, is the specific theme of all *nîti-śâstras*, from the *Artha-śâstra* of Kautilya to the *Yukti-kalpa-taru* of Bhoja. Necessarily subsumed under this fundamental investigation is the discussion of *samaya* (compact) as the origin of the state, *dharma* (*droit*, *Recht*, justice, law, duty, etc.) as the end of government, *bali* (offerings) as the *rationale* of taxation by the state for its services to the community, *aparodha* (expulsion of tyrant), *maṇḍala*, and other concepts of *Staatswissenschaft* in Sanskrit literature.