The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c16.s1.t4.5

c16.s1.t4.5

In the *mâtsya-nyâya* condition there is the people, but no state, because there is no *danda* to enforce *dharma*. If the *prajâ* is not to remain ad infinitum an amorphous mass of selbständig atoms, it must have to follow *sva-dharma*, i. e. the members of the society must perform their respective "duties", which, as we have seen, are really "laws" turned inside out. The observance of these duties would necessarily imply the organization of the people into a unified state, a *samûha* or a *pada*.