The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c7.s1.29

c7.s1.29

So far as the ancient period is concerned, the historian has to observe that the records of Hindu imperial power are not usually marked by the accession and disappearance of dozens of puppet emperors such as were chosen and slain by the army in Rome. No generation was without its *sârva-bhauma*, *chakravarti*, or *châturanta* i.e. "world-ruler", whose regime was signalized by peace and security for the people. This *pax sârvabhaumica* was the result of a well-regulated administrative machinery, and was helped forward to no small extent by remarkably long reigns, two or three of which sometimes covered a whole century. In any case no Eur-American scientist can legitimately congratulate himself on the superiority of the trend of occidental history if only he remembers a mediæval statement cited in Engelbert's *De Ortu et Fine Romani Im-* *perii*.¹ "The Roman Empire", ran the opinion, "was and is always troubled by wars and rebellions; hardly ever were the gates of the temple of Janus shut; the greater number of Roman emperors have died violent deaths; and the Roman Empire has been the cause rather of disorder than of peace."