The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c15.s2.2

c15.s2.2

The limitations of the king as ruler are fully admitted in the theory of the *nîti-śâstras*. Kâmandaka,¹ Manu,² and Śukra³ are never tired of moralizing, like Elyot in his *Gouvernour*, as to the failings to which the monarch as much as all other human beings is naturally liable, especially because of his high position. Moreover, the restraints on his authority implied in the conception of kingship as a public service and in that of the ministry as a body of overseers and controllers are the two checks that the philosophers offer to the doctrine of the *saptâmga*.