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Aspects of Political
Ideas and Institutions in
ANCIENT INDIA
RAM SHRAN SHARMA

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5th Reprint : Delli, 2021

Fifth Revised Edilion : Delhi, 2005
First Edlition : Delhi, 1959

© MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHING HOUSE

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,

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in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
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permission of the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-93-90713-33-2

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Da. ema hiadoró hin

ejasthet
ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS AND
INSTITUTIONS IN ANCIENT INDIA

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Aspects of Political Ideas

and
Institutions in Ancient India

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RAM SHARANBSHARMA
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BANARSIDASS PUBLISHING

ILA HOUs

SINCE I9g03

MOTILAL BANARSIDASS
PUBLISHING HOUSE • DELHI
Email: [email protected] • Website: wvU.mlbd.in

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nf qa, 981?9

In response to the demands of time and place what is proper

may become inproper, and what is improper may become proper.

nti Parva, 79.31

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INTRODUCTION
The first edition of this book was based on some picces I had
written in 1950-54. My study was particularly influenced by the
ideas generated by historical materialism. In collecting, analysing
and interpreting the evidence I relied on Ancient Society by
Henry Morgan and The Origin of the Family, Private Property and
the State by Fredrick Engcls. My approach enabled me to under
stand better the crigin, growth and nature of the state in ancient
India and also the history of its organs. Drckmeicr, a political
scientist, who adopted a sociological framework in his Early
Kingship and Comnunity (1962), found many of such findings
acceptable. He underlined the primitive and tribal character of
ancient rituals and institutions conncctcd with polity. On the
me to the treatment
other hand although the importance given by
a i in his Republics in
of the vidatha was rccognised by J.P. rSharnma
Ancient India (1965), he considered ita to be a religicus body and
r B of functions performed by
a
ignored the undifferentiated character
h
rid
the kin-ordered institutions of a pre-class Vedic society. However,
came to be regarded as an important Vedic assembly along with
S
the vidatha the sabhã and samiti by many scholars including
A.S. Altekar.
A.S. Altekar's State and Government in Ancient India has been
a popular textbook., Published in 1949, it has undergone three
editions, and the third edition (1958) was reprinted in 1972 and
1977. Although he generally admircd ancient institutions, in the
third cdition he did take note of some unorthodox researches
which were stimulatcd by anthropological and other ideas. He
referred to the role of the family and propçrty in explaining the
origin of the state. In his view the institution of the family
with the notion of family and property thus playc its own part
in the origin of the State."" He also states that the state in the
early Vedic period was still tribal'" and that the Velic. tribes
no permanent territorial basis för their
had a for a long time
states,3 These views are sound though Altckar and scholars of
his generation were ncither interested in the dcfinitions of kin
1, 1958 edn., p. 36.
2. Ibid., p. 43.
3. Ibid,

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XXiv ASPECTS OF POLITICAÁL IDBAs

ordered collectivities such as clan, tribes, ctc., nor in the stages

and processes of state formation and polity cvolution. Altekar
also gave some attention to the discussion of the character of the
vidatha,' His concern with problems of social injustice is evident.?
A rcvivalist and Hindu nationalist, he blamcs both the state and
socicty for perpetuating an incquitious social system. However
he singles out society for castigation and does not examine the
linkagc betwccn the statc and the dominant social classes. He
defends the disabilitics of the dras and untouchables on the
ground that they "believed that they were born in their particular
castc as a natural result of certain sins committed by them in
past lives", Altekar also discovered "a welfare state" which was
the casc with K.A, Nilakanta Sastri® and even A.L, Basham.?
He not only tried to demonstrate the state's effort to establish
harmor ious relationship between castes and social classes,8 but

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also pt up the ideal of the Vedic. kings and of the ancient
republics before modern citizens. He did not investigate whether

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these 'ideals' were the products of certain social situations.

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Altckar was deeply religious, but he did not adopt a consistent
position on the role of religion in ancient Indian polity. He
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finds *çonsiderable force in the view that the ancient Indian
state -was theOcratic to a great extcnt. 0 However, he does not
accept Willoughby's view that in all carly Asiatic monarchies the
rulers claimed a divine right to control the affairs of the state.1
He asserts that.religion and philosophical dogmas and concepts

1. Ibid,, p. 141.
2. Ibid., pp. 49-51, 385.
3. lbid., p. 385.
4. Ibid,
5. Ibid., p. 60.
6. Proceedings of the 16th Session of the All-India Oriental Conference,
Lucknow, 1951, pp. 67-68.
7. A.L, Basham, foreword to John W. Spellman, Political Theory of Ancient
India, Oxford, 1964, p. vi. After the attainment of independence by India
in 1947 Altekar saw the possibility of trying limited monarchy by the
princely states on Vedic lines and implicitly regretted that it could not be
done (Tbid., p. 38). Also see K.N. Mishra, State Sponsored Public
Welfare Plans in the Mahabharata, Varanasi, 1972.
8, Altekar, op.cit., pp. 350, 325-26.
9. Ibid,, pp. 379-21.
10. Op.cit., p, 53.
11. Ibid,, pp. 94-95.

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INTRODUCTION XXV

did not deeply influence Hindu political thought, practice and

institutions.!
As in the carlicr phase, Ghoshal's contribution in the post
independence period is marked by impeccable scholarship. In his
A
Histor y of Hndu Public Life (1957) and 4 History of Political
Ideas Ancient and Medie val (1959) he claboratcs the points made
in his earlier publications and documents them so carefully that
it is difficult to detect any error. His analysis is more or less on
the lines of Western liberal writings on the history of political
thought which he taught for long in Calcutta. Though associated
for many ycars with a journal called Greater India, Ghoshal is
not swayed by Hindu chauvinism, He substantially adds to our
information on political ideas and institutions but does not try to
link them to social arid economic developments; he considered
such an exercise to be 'speculative.'² Apart from his repetitive

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and involved style of writing, Ghoshal creates some problem
because of the methods he adopts in using the sources. For

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example, he ascribes the major part of the Kauilyan material to
pre-Maurya times on the ground that Kauilya frequently quotes

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from masters of political thought who preceded him. Unfortu
so
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nately the writings of these teachers have nt been discovered
far, and many of them may have been Kautilya's senior contem
more
poraries. The more one examines th Arthastra the
dificult it becomes to use its major part even for Maurya times.
The Malhbhrata continues to attract a good many researchers.
In recent years at least four dissertations on political ideas and
institutions in the Mahbhrata have appeared. They certainly
systematise much information bearing on ancient Indian polity.5
1. Ibid., p. 57.
2, This is what he told me in a discussion in Patna when he stayed with me
in 1957.
3. R. Trautman. identifies several strata in the Arthastra on the basis of
computerised mannerism in style. S.C. Mishra's inscriptional analysis of
the text reveals four strata, the latest of which tallies with the inscriptional
use of the terms in the 11th-12th centuries. See S.C. Mishra, "An Inscrip
tional Approach to the Arthaästra of Kauilya", Ph.D. Thesis, University
of Delhi, 1984.
4. S.L, Pande, Bhisma Kã Rjadharma, Lucknow, 19S5; Premkumari Dikshit,
Mahbhrata mein Rajavyavasth, Lcknow, 1970; B.P. Roy, Political
Jdeas and Institutions in the Mahabharata, Calcutta, 197S; N.K.P, Sinha,
Political ldeas and ldeals in the Mahabharata (A Sudy of frst two
Parvans), New Delhi, 1976.
S. B.P, Roy, op.cit.

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XXVi ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

Formerly more emphasis was placed on the rjadharma section

of the Snti Parva, but now references found in the Sabh,
Anušäsana and other parvas are also used for research in polity
science. These
which is seen in the perspective of political
text and do not
studies, however, ignore stratification in the.
social, evo
situate references in the context of time, place and
vestiges of various
lution. Rituals surviving till today contain
as didactic
stages of evolution; and legends as well descriptive and
prevalent
portions in the Mahãbhrata reflect ideas and practices
in different regions and periods. A tentative
explanatory frame
by us
work for handling the epic material has been provided on a
clsewhere.2 But further progress in the field will depend
more critical reconstruction of the Critical Edition text.?
Western Indologists of the nineteenth and the early
twentieth
despotism and
centuries popularised the stereotypes of orientalcame under heavy

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the hold of religion and spiritualism. These
After India
attack, largely justified, from Indian scholars.
a kind of neo
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attained independence, thc West developed
orientalism based.on'sociology. As a concession to the indepen

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Indologists
dent republican status of India, Western historians and
undue
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modified the idea of perpetual despotism, but they placedon.
emphasis on the role of religion, particularly rituals, and
the
divinity of kingship.
J. Gonda overemphasises the role of religion in the
formation
sources he uses to argue his
of kingship in ancient India.° The
case are unrelated, distant in timne and place though they show
some superficial continuity in tradition. Gonda frequently states
of
that the honour shown to a sovereign is similar the marks
to

1. N.K.P. Sinha, op.cit.

in Ancient India,
2. R.S. Sharma, Material Culture and So cial Formations
Delhi, 1983, ch: VIII.
K. Shashtree,
3. An attempt has been made in this direction by Keshavram
I and II, Gujarat
(The Jaya-Samhit, i.e., the Ur-Mahblhrata, vols. agree with the.
is difficult to
Research Society, Ahmedabad, 1977), but it verses the
constituting
criteria he has adopted for selecting original'8800
Jaya.
4. Infra, ch. 1.
5. J.W. Spellman, Political Theory in Ancient
India, 1964; J. Gonda, Ancient
View, Leiden, 1969; J.C.
Indian Kingship from the Religious Point of
- ..
Heesterman, Inner Conflict of Indian Tradition, Delhi, 1985.
View, Leiden, 1969.
6. Ancient Indian Kingslhip from the Religious Point of

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INTRODUCTION Xxvii

veneration conferred on the images of the gods. The fact that

gods are conceived after the pattern of chiefs and kings and are
given the latter's attributes and qualities does not strike him.
Similarly he repeatedly asserts that in India divinity of king has
always bcen accepted by the masses.2 But the Arthastra of
Kautilya clearly shows that superstitious ideas about the
miraculous powers of the king are deliberately propagated by
the ruling class. Babhatta cxposc's the hollowness of the
mass belief in royal divinity.3
Though Gonda's etymological and philological study of ancient
Sanskrit terms from the angle of comparative religion is valuable,
hisdecontexualised approach obscures the changing meanings
of terms. For instance, the translation of dharma as religion or
even moral order would not suit all the Sanskrit passages. In
fact most allusions in which the king is called the upholder of

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the dharna or in which he is called dharnmaparavartaka (promoter
or advancer of dharma according to Gonda) refer to the vara

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based social order in which the brhmaas and katriyas either
lived respectively on the gifts and taxes collected from the
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peasants (mainly the vaiyas) or on dra labour. But Gonda
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sees decay of
completely misses this significance of dharma, He
dharma causing fatal losses in welfare and happiness though
really it means mixing of the varas and upsetting of the society
structured in favour of the two higher orders.
Gonda's pupil J.C. Heesterman overstresses the part played
by ritual and tradition in the formation of polity. Some of his
interpretations of the Vedic rituals are acceptable.5 However it
is not sufficiently realised that political power was made accept
able to people through rituals, legends, genealogies, marriage
means.
alliances, hierarchical. idcology and various other
Further, the fact that the Brhmanas, Srautastras, Grhyastras
create the
and some other texts deal with rituals should not
impression that all Indian history is rituals. The inference of
social and economic processes from archaeological and anthro may
pological sources is equally important. Rituals and traditions

1, Ibid., p. 56.
2. Ibid.,, pp. 1-2, 15, 24, 67, 86, 127, 132, 138-39.
3. See Sakansopadesa in Kdambart.
4. Ibid., p. 70. 1957.
5. J.C. Heesterman, The Ancient Indian Royal Consecration, The Haguc,

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Xxviii ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

have their roots in reality but are usually manipulated by

dominant social groups to serve their interests. Heesterman, who
rules out any broad-based struggle of the Indian against the
colonial rule and thinks that they fought between themselves
and not with the Raj,' emphasises fragmentation and atomisation
in Indian history. But we have instances of both local and pan
Indian supralocal political formations. The ancient Indian king
in his view was primarily interested in mastering his senses
(indriya-jaya) though real history shows more interest in terri
torial conquest and administratíon. He thinks that the king
derives his ultimate authority from the brhmaa who is a
renouncer. The theory that the eternal and transcendant values
of renunciation were meant for the guidance of the state hardly
worked in practice. The brhmaas opposcd the renunciatory
religions of the Buddha and Mahåvîra, and prescribed renun

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ciation only for the fourth stage (rama) of life which rarely
materialised. The bråhmaas were an integral part of the vara

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divided society which they regulated with the help of the
katriyas. They occasionally quarreled, but they together lived
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on the gifts, taxes, tributes and presents provided
by artisans,
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peasants and other sections of society. Towards the end
of the
ancient period the brähmaas were given substantial land grants,
and rituals were reoriented.
The French scholar Robert Lingat, who has produced
of outstanding merit" on dharma or law, takes a balanced view
work a
of the divinity of kingship as well as the relation between the
temporal and spiritual power (brahma and katra). He considers
dharma "essentially, a rule of interdependence founded on a
hierarchy corresponding to the nature of things
and necessary
for the maintenance of social order".4 The king is considered
indispensable to the social order, in which “religious
aspirations
do not monopolise all human activity". We may add that this
social order is vara-divided and male-dominated,
and its laws
regarding person and property help the higher varas.
1. Ibid., Inner Conflict of Tradition in India,
Delhi, 1985, p. 176.
2. Ibid., pp. 43, 155, 160, 177.
3. The Classical Law of India, translated
from French with
J. Duncan M. Derrett, University of California, 1973, p. xi. additions by
4. lbid., p. 211.
S. Ibid., p. 207.
6. Ibid.,; p. 5.

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INTRODUCTION Xxix

That the pururthas, namely, artha, dharma, kma .and moka

shaped ancient political ideas and institutions is also held by
some Indian writers. Ideas do shapc thc course of history, but
there is nothing to show that the fourfold aims of life or the
pururthas determined the development of society. Such ideas
hardly appear in Vedic times; nor do they figure in early Bud
dhist texts. They assume importance only in Gupta and post
Gupta times, especially in the Puras. Initially only artha,
dharma and- kma appear, and can be connected with the
institutions of the family, property and vara. The idea of
mokaor salvation linked to renunciation is tagged on to the
original three ideals. What is really necded is an explanation of
the origin and development of these ideals in the context of
time, place and social milieu. How far äncient rulers, priests
and others were influenced by the relative importance of such
i
ideals in their policies and actions also requires investigation.
The establishment of the Republicraof India in 1950 made
some impact on researchers. It was no
B a longer nccessary to make
a
a case for the existence of republics r in ancient India, as was
dh
ri of the Indian Republic. In
forcefully done by K:P. Jayaswal under the colonial rule, but to
S
think of steps for the preservation
this context A.S. Altekar finds it necessary to understand the
causes of the disappearance of the republics in ancient Indial
Headumberates the seven conditions laid down for the success
may
of the Vajji republic and recommends that 'Modern India
carve on the gate of the Parliament the Buddha's prophesy"?
about the decline or survival of that republic. The subject of the
republics therefore assumed greater importance in the post
independence period than the study of limited monarchy.
Republics in the popular notion came.to be confounded with
democratic.governments, and this idea also influenced researchers.
Thus in his book Republics in Ancient India (1963) J.P. Sharma
discusses at length the various popular assemblies including the
vidatha in Vedic times. Another book on the subjcct makes a
descriptive study of the republics and adds very little to what
K.P. Jayaswal has written. The conclusion that the republics
of today do not differ from those of ancient times in their
1. Op. cit., p. 378.
2. Ibid., p. 379.
3, Shobha Mukherji, The Republican Trends in Ancient India, Delhi, 1969.

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XXX ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

essentials is naive. S.N. Mishra has collected exhaustive data

on the gana-rjya and its different interpretations.? But except
Ghoshal writers on polity hardly emphasise the clan or the
oligarchical character of the republics that were set up in post
Vedic times.
Thus the questions which cxercise the minds of scholars are
not entirely new. Neither the influence of colonialism nor that
of nationalism has been completely climinated from writings on
ancient Indian polity. The stress on spiritualism, which first
appeared in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth
century, is given a new form. Somc writers, both Western and
Indian, still consider religion to be an autonomous factor that
infiuences the formation of the state and kingship and makes for
permanent,divisiveness.
Influenced by historical materialism D.D. Kosambi made a

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penetrating study of ancient Indian society, but he did not give
attention to polity. Karl Marx formulated primitive communist,

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ancient, slave, Germanic, Asiatic, feudal and capitalist modes of
production. Now the Asiatic mode is. also applied to Latin

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American countries, and certain Marxist anthropologists advance
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the conceptsof the 'African', 'lincage', domestic, foraging and
some other modes of production, but none of these has won any
general acceptance. Taking the cue from the lincage mode of
production Romila Thapar underlines the point that members
of senior lineages claim special shares from those of junior
lineages in Vedic times. But how patrilineages and genealogies
are formed and manipulated and whether achievements determine
seniority and ascriptive claims to spoils and shares in produce
has to be investigated.?
1. .Ibid., p. 205.
2. Ancient Indian Republics from the Earliest Times to the Sirih Century A.D.,
Lucknow, 1976.
3. An Introduction to the S tudy of Indian History, Bombay, 1956.
4. Karl Marx, Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations, ed, and introduction,
E. Hobsbawm, London, 1964; The Grundrisse, ed. M. Nicolaus, Penguip,
Harmondsworth, 1973, p. 472 f.
5,.Mathew Sprigg in Marxist Perspectives in Archaeology, Cambridge, 1984,
Pp. 4-5.
6. From Lineage to State, Delhi, 1984.
7. During the last 30 years lineage studies have hardly gone beyond the
Goros of Africa, and are confined to a few French anthropologists..

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INTRODUCTION
XXXi

In the light of historical materialism we propose to look at

ancient political ideas and institutions in relation to socio
economic processes. Wewill consider various modes of production
inchuding the tribal and the post-tribal. Insights derived from
recent studies of tribal societies and archaeological discoveries
will be used to explain the significance of rituals and institutions
in ancient India. But in exploring the linkage between economy
and polity historically we would not ignore comparisons with
the ancient institutions of Asia and Europe.!

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1, Pre-industrial India is considered similar to pre-industrial Europe and

not to pre-colonial Africa in respect of the family and systems of marriage
in Jack Goody, The Oriental, the Ancient and the Primitive, Cambridge
University Press, 1990. This also applies to ancient political institutions
in several cases.

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CHAPTER I

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT
INDIAN POLITY UP TO 1930
The first serious attempt at the study of India's past, on the
part of both the Western as well as Indian scholars, began after
the revolt of 1857-59:1 A perusal of some introductions to the
Sacred Books of the East reveals the motive underlying this great
venture extending over years. It was felt by the British rulers
that the revolt was due to lack of their knowledge of Indian
religion, manners, customs and history. Further, the pcople could
not be won over to Christianity and consequently to the empire
unless the missionaries acquired an idea of the vulnerable points

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in their social structure. According to Max Müller, to the
missionary an accurate knowledge of the sacred books was as
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indispensable as the knowledge of the enemy's country to a

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general.° In their study of the ancient history of India, Western
scholars reached two important conclusions, which can be
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summed up in the words of Max Müller. In 1859 he wrote that
the Indians are a nation of philosophers and Indian intellect is
lacking in political or material speculation, and that the Indians
never knew the feeling of nationality.3 We do not know whether
Max Müller drew upon the famous dictum of Aristotle that
oriental rule is autocratic in character. But his idea was the stock
in-trade of the grcat Europcan historians who wrote in the 18th
and 19th çenturies. Thus Gibbon pointed out that all oriental
history is "one unceasing record of valour, greatness, degeneracy
and decay"". Green stated that the empires of the East are, in
the main, tax-collecting institutions. They exercise coercive power
on-their subjects of the most violent kind...(and) do not impose
laws as distinct from particular and occasional commands,"4
1. Although the establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784
marks the starting point of Western interest in ancient Indian studies
the number of books that were published till 1859 was small. Max
Müler, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. i.
A

2. SBE, i, pt. I, Preface, p, xl.

3. Max Müller, op.cit., p. 16.
4. Quoted in Beni Prasad, The State in Ancient India, p, 498.

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2 ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

Similar ideas continued to find cxpression in the work of emi.

nent orientalists. Writing in 1898 Sénart stated that India never
attained to the idea either of the state or of the fatherland,' and
even in
that it could not evolve any political constitution,
conception.?
Such a view about India's past history and polity was obviously
dominated by imperialist ideology. Its practical implications in
the existing set-up were dangerous to the demand for self-govern
ment in India. If Indians were essentially philosophers, absorbed
in the problems of the spiritual world, it followed that their
material world should be managed for them by their imperialist
never
masters. If Indians were accustomed to' autocratic rule and
was in
had any idea of nationhood, state or self-government, it
keeping with their tradition that they should be ruled autocra
tically by the British Governor-General and Viceroy.

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This colonialist ideology regarding ancient history and
particularly the nature of the early Indian polity came as a

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challenge to Indian scholarship and to the few foreign scholars
who were yet unaffected by imperialist ideology. In 1889,
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controverting Max Müller who had said that to
the Greek,
existence is full of
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life and reality, to the Hindu it is a dream
and delusion"*, the great American savant Hopkins pointed out
that the religious element did not penetrate deeply into the vast
mass of unpriestly classes. But the biggest response to this
challenge came from the Indian scholars themselves. During
the last three decades of the 19th century Bhagwan Lal Indraji,
RG. Bhandarkar, R.L. Mitra and B.G. Tlak, most of whom
actively associated themselves with the political and social
movements of their time, tried to prove the falsity of the
imperialist ideology. By their researches into the manifold
aspects of the past history of their country they tried to build a
powerful case for the political and social progress of the country
in théir own times. Since then the study of India's past was
mainly guided by the nationalist ideology. This point can be
especially illustrated by presenting a rapid survey of research
on ancient Indian polity.
1, Caste in India, p. 198,
2, Tbid., p. 212.
3. A History Sanskrit Literature, p. 18.
of Ancient
4. "Position of thc Ruling Caste etc.", JAOS, xii, 182.

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HISTORIOGRAPHY 3

Just asthere were two phases, moderate and radical, in the

growth of the nationalist movement, so also there were two
such phases in the progress of research on ancient Indian polity.
It is well-known that the chief demand of the Indian nationalist
movemnent in its earlier stages was to curtail the powers
of the
autocratic Viceroy by introducing a popular element at the
Centre and in the Provincial Governments. Hence in 1887
R.C. Dutt wrote an article on the «Civilisation in the Brähmaa
Period', in' which he tried to show that in ancient times the
king did justice to all,' He was followed by Purnendu Narayan
Singh, who, in an article in 1894, strongly countered the
statement of Sir Auckland Colvin that the British have taught
for the first time that the end and aim of rule is the welfare of the
people, and not the personal aggrandisement of the sovereign."
He argued that such an idea is due to the ignorance of the

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system of government in ancient India which, in his opinion,
was limited monarchy.?

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The strong nationalist movement that followed the partition
of Bengal in 1905 gave further, impetus to research in ancient
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Indian polity. Curzon's homily on the oriental character, his
S
autocratic measures for the partition of Bengal, and his attack
on the elected element in the Calcutta Corporation could not
but influence the course of research on ancient polity. In an
article written in 1907 A.C. Das repeated with greater emphasis
the view ofthe previous scholars that "it is a mistake to suppose
that the Hindus have been accustomed to an autocratic form of
government, and that the popular element never existed as a
distinct force in the country."" He further said that "it was not
Absolute but Limited Monarchy that flourished in Ancient
India."3 Perhaps by way of indirect suggestion that Curzon's
attack on the elected element in the Calcutta Corporation was
-unwarranted, in another essay of the same year Das pointed out
that Local Self-Government existed in Ancient India even in a
better form than that in which it exists at present under British
rule."4 Four years later, S.K. Aiyangar in his thesis on Coa
Administration brought to light the working of clected village
1.Calcutta Review, xxXv (1887), 266.
2. Ibid., xeviii (1894), 301.
3. "Limited Monarchy in Ancient India", Modern Review, i (1907), 346tt.
4. Ibid,

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4 ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

panchayats, exercising all functions in early mediaeval times

under the Coas.1
The nationalist movement stimulated the search for'ancient
manuscripts, resulting in the discovery of the Arthastra of
Kautilya in 1905 and its publication by Shamasastry in 1909.
The discovery was an epoch-making event in the history of the
study of ancient Indian polity, for it provided valuable raw
material which could be utilised in yielding "political prece.
dents for modern controversies."2 This was an important factor
which contributed to many critical and descriptive studies of
the ancient Indian polity.
The period from 1905 was a period of extremist politics.
Extremists, who did' not believe in constitutional methods for
the attainment of slow reforms, set up a net-work of revolution
ary societies in Bengal and Maharashtra. The movement was

r a i for past culture. For instance

coloured by the spirit of Hindu revivalism. The very names of
these societies betray their love
the Anushilan Samiti, which Bwas a set up in 1905 and had about
550 branches by 1907, means
a r the society for the promotion of
culture and learning. Itdhis legitimate to suspect that, although
wdded to the cult of S riviolence, it must have published certain
research tracts of which we are unaware. These societies created
a revolutionarý temper in the country and prepared the minds
of many intellectuals for the complete independence of their
motherland. It was through them that the word Swaraj got the
widest currency. As interpreted by a left-wing paper it means
"self-taxation, self-legislation and self-administration,"4 It is not
known whether K.P. Jayaswal was in any way. connected with
these societies, but the fact that he was made to resign his post
in the postgraduate teaching department of Calcutta University
by the Bengal Government in 1912-3 might suggest that he was
considered a potential contributor to the seminaries of
sedition."5 It is to the late K.P. Jayaswal that Indology owes its
greatest work on ancient Indian polity. His articles contributed
1. Ancient India, pp. 158-91,
2. K.V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity, p. 87.
3. An up-to-date bibliography is found
in R.P. Kangle, The Kauiliya
Arthastra, Part III, University of Bombay, 1965.
4, Quoted in Hiren Mukerjee, India Struggles for Freedom, p. 88.
5. Hindu Polity, p. xxV.

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HISTORIOGRAPHY

to Modern Review between 1912 and 1915--which appeared

later in the form of his famous book Hndu Polity in 1924--were
really pioneer works, as later admitted by D.R. Bhandarkar,
R.C. Majumdar, B.K. Sarkar and other scholars who followed
him, For the first time he showed the importance of republics in
ancient Indian history. He tried to prove that the ancient Hindu
political system was partly of republics of the Athenian type,
and of constitutional monarchies such as that of Great Britain,
There were popular assemblies such as the paura and jnapada,
acting as checks on the powers of the king. According to him
these organisations were more advanced than any thing which
modern Switzerland or the United States can, boast of. At the
end of his study Jayaswal concluded: *The constitutional
progress made by the Hindus has probably not been equalled
much less surpassed by any polity of antiquity." And finally,

ra ai
he expressed the undying hope of a patriot: that the Golden
Ago of his polity lies not only in the past but in the Future."1

ra B
The implications of his research are clear. Hisconclusions present
the first solid ideological case for complete independence and a
ir dh
republican form of Government in India. It is because of this
S
that no thesis on ancient Indian history has been so frequently
quoted as Hindu Polity. It became the Bible of the Indian
nationalists. Meet any educated old man and he knows about
Hindu.Polity.
Jayaswal was followed by a host of scholars, who flooded
Modern Review, Hindustan Review and Indian Antiquary with a
spate of articles and wrote a number of theses. In many ways the
period between 1916 and.1925, coinciding with post-war
nationalist and revolutionary movements sweeping over Europe
and Asia, marked the peak of our nationalist movement. No
other period of the present century' has produced so many
research works on ancient Indian polity as this period of nine
years. Leaving aside the articles, the number of monographs on
Hindu political theories and institutions would come to more
than a dozen. It is not possible to notice the ideological basis
of all works, but we can examine the important ones to find out
the main trends.
To begin with works of a general nature on polity, P.N. Banerjea
1. Ibid., p. 366.

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6 ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

in his Public Administration in Ancient India, published in 1916,

points out that the ancient system of government may thus be
called constitutional monarchy." It was Sachivatantra"1 He
further says that not only in monarchies but also in republican
states the popular assemblies were important in ancient times.?
In the same year K.V. Rangaswami Aiyangar brought out Some
Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity, which was based on his lectures
delivered in 1914.In his work the author deprccates the tendency
to look into the armoury of "our" ancient polity for weapons to
be used in the arena of modern political controversies.3 But at
the same time he points out that the undermining of the
current" belief that ancient Indian institutions and political
theory were unprogressive will long form a vital condition of a
successful, historical study of ancient Indian polity.4 In his book
Corporate Life in Ancient India (1918) even a trained historian

ra ai
such as R.C. Majumdar admits that he was led to this line of
inquiry through the importance of the spirit of co-operation"

ra B
in the present highly developed stage of civilization.5 In his

ir dh
opening lines in the introduction he says that "India at present
is very backward in this particular aspect of culture, but the
S
following pages are intended to show that things were quite
different in the past." It pains him to find that it required great
effort to believe that political institutions éwhich we are accus
tomed to look upon as of western growth had also flourished in
India long ago.."8 At the same time he assails the commonly
held view that India was only absorbed in religion. His researches
are intended to show that religion did not engross the whole
or even an undue proportion of the public attention." A similar
view is expressed by Shamasastry in his book Evolution of Indian
Polity (1920). He asserts that neither during the Vedic period
nor in the times of Kauilya divine birth or right of kings seems
to have been thought of." Coming to the next publication,
1, Ibid., p. 51.
2. Ibid., p. 97.
3. K.V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity, Pp.
3-4. Although the 1935 edition of this book has becen consulted, it does
not mean any diference in matter except for footnotes and appendices.
4. K,V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, op.cit., p. 65.
5. Introduction, p. i.
6. Corporate Life in Ancient India, p. 122.
7. Ibid., P. 145.

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HISTORIOGRAPHY 7
Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity by N.N. Law (1921), Kcith
says in his foreword that the development
of a keen interest in
the history of Indian theories of polity is one of the gratifying
consequences of the awakening of political aspirations in India,!
The longest chapter (IX) in the book is
The Religious Aspects
of Ancient Hindu Polity.'9 While concluding it, Law states that
thère were wide and various ficlds of political actions in which
the Hindu showed considerable ¡judgment and acumen undele
gated by the force of bcliefs."? By 1922 B.K. Sarkar was ready
with his Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus. In its
preface he claims that on fundamental points the volume delivers
"a frontal attackon the traditio nal Western prejudices regarding
Asia, such as are concentrated in Hegel, Cousion, Max Müller,
Maine, Janet, Smith, Willoughby and Hutington."3 He deplores
that the servile and degenerate Asia of to-day" should be

ra ai
compared with Asia whicl was the leader of humanity's progress.
Repudiating the suggestion of the influence of religion on politics he

ra B
says that “Hindu states were thoroughly secular.'"5 In Development

ir dh
of Hindu Polity and Political Theories (1927)
N.C. Bandyopadhay
asserts that the ancient Indian king could neither claim divinity
S
nor possessed any prerogatives.® In his opinion the vievws of
thinkers who justify the expulsion or destruction of a tyrant
disprove the theory of divinity.?
In 1923 there appearèd A History of Hindu Political Theories
by U.N. Ghoshal.9 He ably refutes the view of Max Müller
and Bloomfield that Hindus, because -of certain inherent ten
dencies in their character, could not conceive of the idea of
the state and tha. there is no provision for the interest of the
state in their schemne. His main targets of attack are Western
writers of history of political thought such as Janet, Dunning
and Willoughby. He questions Janet's estimate that the sole
1, Aspecis of Ancient Indian Polity, p. iv.
2. Ibid., p. 218.
3. P. vii.
4. P. 9.
5. P. 13.
6. P. 94.
7, P. 294.
8. This book has been more than doubled in size and has been re-issued in
1959 under the title A History of Indian Political Ideas which is a good re
ference book for details but does not add substantially to the original work.

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8 ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

city for the Indian sages is the city divine. This, says Ghoshal,
when tested in the light of sobèr fact, willappear no more than
a half truth.' Dunning states that the Äryans in India could
never develop Political Science as an independent branch of
knowledge and free it from its theological and metaphysical
environment as the Europcan Aryans did, while Willoughby thinks
that because of their supreme faith in the divine creation they
were.never impelled to enquire into the rationale of their
institutions.? Rejecting this. view Ghoshal says that the chief
characteristic of the Buddhist political thought is "bold and
avowed appeal to human reason."3 Moreover, hc asserts that
the Indian states, contrary to the usual view, were not modelled
after a uniform pattern, that of despotic monarchy.
In his lectures Some Aspectsof Ancient Hindu Polity delivered
in 1925, D.R. Bhandarkar again quotes .the same views of

ra ai
Dunning, Max Müler and Bloomield in order to refute them.
In case of Dunning he makes allowance for the fact that he

ra B
had no direct knowledge of orientalia, But he sees no justif
cation for the statement of oriental scholars such as Max Müller
ir dh
and Bloomfield, who hold that the Indian never knew the feeling
S
of nationality and. that his heart never trembled in the expecta
tion of national applause.5 He points out that particularly after.
the discovery of the Arthastra it is no longer correct to assert
that the Hindù mind did not conduce to the development
of political theorics, and that the Indians never set up politics
as an independent branch of knowledge."6 While discussing the
rules of business in the republican' assembly he is apprehensive
lest his conclusions are regarded sas prompted by patriotic
bias. "7
The high watermark of the nationalist ideology finding
reflection in research on polity can be traced in V.R.R. Dikshitar.
His work Hindu Administraive Institutions, which he took up
as his thesis in 1923 and completed in 1927, goes
rather too far
1. A
History of Indian Political ldeas, p. S.
2. Ibid., p. 8.
3. Ibid., p. 9.
4. Introduction, p. 2.

5. P. 2.
6. P. 3.
7. P. 77.

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HISTORIOGRAPHY

in singing the glories of our past institutions. He regards Hindu

polity as almost modern. Strongly rebutting the view
that
patriotism was not a phenomenon realised in ancient India, he
argues that the oneness of the country and the
ideal of every
monarch to make a dligvijaya and achieve sole rule over the
world extending from the Cape Comorin to the Himalayas
indicate beyond doubt the existence of a strong nationalist
feeling in the country." And then he quotes the famous verse
janant janmabhümica svargdapi gariyast.l His concluding lines
carry exactly the same sense as those of Jayaswal. He says that,
though every nation evolved its own polity, no polity had the
inherent vitality that Hindu polity possessed. At the end of his
work he repeats the robust 'optimism of Jayaswal that the
Golden Age of his (Hindu) Polity lies not in the past but in the
future. "2
Thus a review of general works on polity during 1916-25
ra ai
reveals a marked tendency to place an ideological weapon in

ra B
the hands of Indian nationalists. The same is the case with
certain special works such as those on Local Self-Government

ir dh
and International Law in Ancient India. R.K. Mookerji's Local
S
-Government in Ancient India seeks to modify the opinion of
such critics as declare that In ancient India there was nothing
of, the nature of a political institution between the village and
central government.'*3 Like other scholars, Mookerji also fecls
that to see endless repetitions of autocratic and theocratic
institutions in Indian history is a great source of of historical
misinterpretation,4 He claims that the study of ancient Indian
local institutio ns will point the way to the lines of develópment
on which reconstruction should proceed. On the other hand,
to.the people it will bring a new inspiration, a fresh stimulus
to national self-respect that will look back with pride on the
record'of institutions which gave them at once the blessings of
self-rule and a means of self-preservation amidst adverse political
conditions."5
Similar sentiments are expressed in P.N. Banerjea's work
'1. P. 78.
2. P. 384, bracketted portion ours.
3. P. 316.
4. Introduction, p. xiti.
5: Pp. 21-22.

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10 ASPECTS OF POLITICAL IDEAS

Inernational Law and Custon in Ancient India (1920). Banerjea

says that imbued with imperialistic ideas Hall considers
International Law as a favoured monopoly" of the European
family of nations, He complains that even a consideratepublicist
such as Lawrence regards the Indian troops as "semi-civilized
or imperfectly civilized troops" and that he recommends their
use against border tribes and in warfare with people of the
same degree of education as themselves,2 The object of Banerjea's
thesis. is to establish the apparently incredible fact that the
ancient Indians had a definite knowledge of the rules of Interna
tional Law according to which they regard their international
conduc."3 S.V. Viswanath's International Law in Ancient India
institutes a comparison between the First World War, which was
waged in contravention of. the accepted laws of nations and in
defiance of all notions of international morality laying its hand

ra ai
on combatants and non-combatants alike, and the wars in
ancient India, which were fought according to the rules of

ra B
Dharmayuddha and in which wholesale destruction and devasta
tion was forbidden, 5
ir dh
Between 1925 and 1930 the number of works on ancient polity
S
was comnparatively fewer than what it was between 1916 and
1925. In 1927 N.C. Bandyopadhay brought out two books
Development of Hindu Polity and Political Theories and Kauilya.
While in the former he tried to demolish the belief that India
was the birthplace and the.peculiar habitation of despotic
power, in the latter he concluded that Kauilya "dreams the
prospect of a truly 'national king' who was to merge even his
identity with customs and language."8 But Beni Prasad, who
published his two books State in Ancient Indiaand Government
in Ancient India about the same time, sounded a word .of
warning against reading too much of modern ideas into ancient
institutions. Nevertheless, to prove the superiority of early Indian
institutions over the Greek and Roman systems he said that in
ancient India there was no aristocracy in the Greek or Roman
1. JDL, i(1920), p. 202.
2. Ibid., p. 203.
3. Ibid.
4. Pp. 3-4.
5. P. 126.
6. P. 298.

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HISTORIOGRAPHY 11

sense. Caste forbade a combination of office, wealth and prestige

of birth as in other countries.' In 1931 S.K. Aiyangar published
hisEvolution of Hindu Administrative Institutions in South India
"for an understanding of the native Indian theory of government
so that there may be a correct apprehension of the constitutional
needs of the country."2 He flatters himself with the idea that
the ancient administration seems to have made a clear, but
close approach to these ideals which -modern democracy is
making an effort at realising."3 An important work of specific
nature published in 1929 was Contributions to the History of the
Hindu Revenue System of U.N,Ghoshal. Therein he states that
the principles of taxaion formulated in early times “surpass the
achievements of classical antiquity and tend to approach the
ideas of European thinkers .in the 18th and early 19th cen
turies.'*4 In his opinion the view that taxes are the king's dues

ra ai
for the service of protection is identical with the similar doctrine
of 17th and 18th century Europe.

ra B
Thus a reviewer of Dikshitar's Hindu Administrative Institu
tions in 1929 rightly pointed out that “the general trend of the

ir dh
works during the last fifteen years has been to show that the
S
government of the country in ancient days was not irresponsible,
that there was public opinion with recognised channels for the
expression thereof, that public opinion was respected in almost
all cases by the powers, that it could grow at times so powerful
as to lead to the abdication or dethronement of the ruler, and
so on."8 There is no doubt that this whole series of research
works on the history of political theories and institutions was
writtei with a purpose. It was meant to bring grist to the
nationalist mill and to sustain the nationalist movement. After
1930there set in a stagnation in research, and fewworks on
polity were produced in the following twenty years or so. The
books that appeared during this period mostly covered the old
ground,
Here let us pause and consider the merits and. limitations of
1. The State in Ancient India, pp. 7-8,
2. Ibid., p. V.
3. P. 379.
4. P. 14.
5. P. 17.
6. JIH, vii(1929), p. 405.

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12 ASPECTS OF POLITICAL DEAS

the nationalist and revivalist linc of approach to the study of

India's past polity. Its one grcat result was that by presenting
an encouraging picture of the past it illed the people with
grcat self-confidenco. As a scholar of Hindu polity says in 1922
"thc nationalist movcment of Young India which has won
rccognition as a 'world forcc in international politics since
August 7, 1905, is rccciving a conscious guidance and direction
from the solid results of unquestionable antiquarian investiga
tion,"" This knowledge of ancicnt polity gave tongue to those
who advocatcd sclf-govcrnment and independence of India, If
they hadsclf-government in the past, there was no reason why
they should not have it in the present. Secondly, this ideology
produccd splcndid rescarch works, andcertain inferences regard
ing the prevalence of limited monarchy, republics, local self
govcrnment and international law in ancient India came to be
accepted by ncarly all scholars, in spite of the dissenting note of

ra ai
V. Smith that it was not safe to rely on the admonitions of the
carly sages about the ideal king.
ra B
But this nationalist ideology had also its limitations. First,

ir dh
while it did serve to rouse the educated middle class against
alien rule, it hardly appealed to conscious intellectuals interested
S
in the masses of peasants and workers who were being drawn
into the national struggle from 1920 onward. By a fulsome
adoration of ancient Hindu institutions it tended to antagonise
the Muslims, though this was not done deliberately. Secondly,
it gave us a false sense of past values. It glossed over the fact
that, whether it was monarchy or republic, the two upper varas
dominated the two lower varas, who were generally excluded
from all political ofices. It also ignored the fact that one
fundamental feature of our legislation was that it worked in the
interests of the upper varas. It did not pay attention to the
fact that the ruling class consciously exploited religion for the
promotion of their political interests. It never took into consi
deration the fact that wealth andpolitical ofices went hand in
hand.
Thirdly, many Indian scholars fought shy of the religious
aspects of ancient Indian polity and, as if to cover a sense of
guilt, took too much pains to prove the secular character of the

1. B.K. Sarkar, The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus, p. 4:

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HISTORIOGRAPHY 13

ancient Indian state, little realising that even in the Western

world the first completely secular state did not come into exis
tence until 1783 and that India was not the only country where
religion influenced political ideas and actions.!
Fourthly, in its craze for proving the superiority of our ancient
institutions over those of the ancient West- it hardly tried to
examine them in the light of the evolution of primitive tribes as
known from anthropology or in the light of the carly institutions
of other Indo-European peoples. Because of these limitations it
appcars that the possibilities of research in ancient Indian polity
on purely nationalistic lines have been almost exhausted. We are
in need of an objective approach free from cheap generalisations.

ra ai
ra B
ir dh
S

1, The religious aspect has been emphasised recently in several publi

cations, as has been shown by us in our Introduction.

Sridhar Barai