Unit-1

✓ State in Ancient India

✓ Evolutionary Theory
✓ Force Theory
✓ Mystical Theory
✓ Contract Theory
✓ Stages of State Formation in Ancient India
State In Ancient India
• When a large number of human beings live together, there is need for
some rules and regulations.
• In early days, there is a realization in India that there has to be a
‘Society’ governed by some commonly agreed rules and regulations.
• More rigorous organization is needed, a system called ‘State’ in
political thought
– a political system with a legal sanction and foundation,
– a system ruled by law.
• A ‘State’ or Rājya, has several dimensions - the duties/ rights of the
ruled and the rulers.
State In Ancient India
• In the Ancient Political Thinking, Kautilya has first time defined the state in
Arthashastra.
• According to Kautilya, an area cannot be a state unless there are people and
rulers to control that state. According to him state is an area which consists many
cities.
• It not only produces things for living but also protects its people from danger
and animals.
• Other things like fertile land, food, wood, jungles for elephants, pastures for
animals are also available there.
• For water it depends not only on rain, but it has many sources of water.
• For trade there are a lot of goods.
• There live decent and high character people.
• There live wise owners and faithful servants.
State In Ancient India
• State has been the key concept in political science since the period of
grand thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle.
• Though India had no formal political philosophy, the science of
statecraft was much cultivated and several important textbooks on
this topic have survived.
• One of the most important topics in political science has been the
origin and evolution of the state.
• In ancient India also, thinkers like Bhisma, Narada, Brihaspati,
Kautilya, Kamandaka have looked at the problem.
State In Ancient India
• The earliest and most important textbook specifically devoted to
statecraft is the Arthashastra, which is attributed to Kautilya or
Chanakya.
• The Arthashastra gives very detailed instructions on various issues
like
– the management of the state,
– the organization of the national economy and
– the conduct of war
It is the most precious sourcebook for many aspects of ancient Indian life
State In Ancient India
• On the basis of the writings of these thinkers we can detect four
important theories regarding the origin of the state in ancient India,
namely –
• Evolutionary Theory
• Force Theory
• Mystical Theory
• Contract Theory
 State In Ancient India
• Evolutionary Theory
• This is the oldest theory of the origin of the state in India and has
been mentioned in the Atharva Veda.
• The tenth hymn of the eighth chapter of the Atharva Veda gives a
picture of the evolutionary origin of the state.
• According to this theory the state is the result of evolutionary
progress and it didn’t originate at a fixed time.
• Based on Atharva Veda several stages of the evolution of the state
can be traced.
 State In Ancient India
• Evolutionary Theory…
• The hymns of the Atharva Veda state that the earliest phase of human life
was the stage of Vairājya or stateless state. It was a state of complete
anarchy.
• But with the emergence of agriculture, stable life became possible. To fulfil
the needs of agriculture, the family emerged and the head of the family
became the first wielder of authority.
• Further, the need of co-operation in the different realms of society led to
the emergence of sabhā and samiti.
• Sabhā was the organization of elderly people and samiti was the general
assembly of common people.
• With the emergence of sabhā and samiti organized political life began
which finally culminated in the emergence of the state.
 State In Ancient India
• Force Theory
• Though ancient Indian political thinkers did not propound force theory in a systematic
way, force was considered to be an important factor in the evolution of the state in India.
• Earliest Aryan clans fought among themselves for pet and domestic (specially for the
cow), pastureland, settlements and sources of drinking water.
• Only a strong and able warrior could lead the clan in such wars. So he was given special
status and the members of clan started obeying him.
• This tendency continued in the days of peace also and subsequently the leader became
king.
• Citing examples from the Vedas (Rig Veda and Sāma Veda) and the Brahmanas
(Aitareya, Shatapatha) John Spellman also opines that the king in ancient India was
primarily a military leader.
• But it should be clearly mentioned that none of the political commentators give a
systematic and well knitted explanation of the role of force in the emergence of the state
in ancient India.
 State In Ancient India
• Mystical Theory
• This was the most popular theory of origin of the state in ancient India.
• Kingship was given divine sanction and the king was considered not to be
the representative of God but himself a God who contained the powers of
important Gods like Indra, Varuna and Agni.
• It appears first in the epics and the law books of Manu.
• The king was dignified far above ordinary mortals, through the magical
powers of the great royal sacrifices.
• The magical power which pervaded the king at his consecration (Rājasūya)
was restored and strengthened in the course of his supremacy by further
rites, such as,
• the ceremonial rejuvenation of the Vājapeya and
• the horse-sacrifice (Asvamedha)
which not only ministered to his ambition and arrogance but also ensured
the prosperity and fertility of the kingdom
 State In Ancient India
• Contract Theory
• Contract theory is the most extensively discussed theory of the origin
of the state in ancient India.
• The reference to contract theory can be seen in the Buddhist texts
like Dīgha Nikāya and Mahāvastu and brahmanical texts like Shānti
Parva and Arthashāstra of Kautilya.
• It is said that there was a time when people were perfect and lived in
a state of happiness and tranquility.
• This perfect state lasted for ages, but at last the original purity
declined.
• Many differences have appeared like distinctions of colour.
• In a word, heavenly life degenerated into earthly life. Now shelter,
food and drink were required.
 State In Ancient India
• Contract Theory
• People gradually entered into a series of agreements among themselves
and set up the institutions of the family and private property.
• But this gave rise to a new set of problems like theft and other forms of
unsocial conduct.
• Therefore, people assembled and agreed to choose as chief a person who
was the best favoured, the most attractive and the most capable.
• In return they agreed to contribute to him a portion of their paddy.
• The individual, who was thus elected, came to hold in serial order three
titles:
a) Mahāsammata : one chosen by the whole people
b) Khattiya and : the lord of the fields
c) Rājā : one who charms the people by means of dharma
Stages of State Formation in Ancient India
• Six main stages in the history of ancient Indian polity can be
identified.
➢The earliest stage was that of tribal military democracy in which tribal
assemblies, which had some place for women were mainly pre-occupied with
war. The age of Rig Veda was primarily a period of assemblies.
➢The second stage saw the break-up of the tribal polity under the stress of
constant conflicts between the rājanyakshatriya and the ordinary
businessman called the vis. The chiefs were helped by the priesthood called
the brahmins. This stage saw the beginning of taxes and classes or varnas
which came to be firmly established in the third stage.
Stages of State Formation in Ancient India
➢The third stage was marked by the formation of the full-fledged state. There arose
large territorial kingdoms of Kosala and Magadha and tribal oligarchies in North-
Western India and at the foot of the Himalayas. For the first time we hear of large
standing armies and organized machinery for the collection of land revenue.
➢The fourth or the Maurya phase saw bureaucratic centralization based on the
expanding economic activities of the state. The state with the help of its bureaucracy
controlled various aspects of the life of its subjects.
➢The fifth stage was marked by the process of decentralized administration in which
towns, feudatories and military elements came to the forefront in both the Deccan
and North India. This was partly neutralized by the emphasis on the divinity of the
king.
➢The sixth stage, identical with the Gupta period, may be called the period of proto-
feudal polity. Land grants now played an important part in the formation of the
political structure and those made by the Gupta feudatories conferred economic and
administrative privileges on priestly beneficiaries.
Kingship
• The king was the most important figure in the body politic.
• In the Saptānga theory of the state, developed by Kautilya the king
has been described as the head or the most important organ of the
state.
• The king performed multi-dimensional functions.
• The king’s functions involved the protection not only of his kingdom
against external aggression, but also of life, property and traditional
custom against internal foes.
Kingship
• He protected
• the purity of class and caste by ensuring that those who challenged the
system were excommunicated.
• the family system by punishing adultery and ensuring the fair inheritance of
family property.
• widows and orphans by making them his wards.
• the rich against the poor by suppressing robbery, and
• the poor against the rich by punishing extortion and oppression.
• Religion was protected by liberal grants to learned brahmins and
temples
Kingship
• The Arthashāstra suggests a time-table for the king’s day, which allows him
• only four and a half hours sleep and
• three hours for eating and recreation,
• the rest of the day being spent in the different kinds of affairs of the state.
• The king is told that he must be prompt in the administration of justice and
always accessible to his people.
• According to Altekar, the position, powers and privileges of the king have
varied from age to age.
• In the prehistoric period, the king was only the senior-most member in the
council of peers. There was a popular council (samiti) to actively supervise
his administration. His position was insecure, and powers were limited.
Kingship
• After 500 BC, the office of king was elevated to new heights.
• During this period the king became the effective head of the
executive administration.
• There was no popular assembly like samiti to check him.
• He controlled both the treasury and the military forces, though
commander-in-chief and treasurer were under him.
• Ministers were selected by the king and held office at his pleasure.
• The king presided over the council of ministers and its decisions had
to receive royal assent.
Council of Ministers
• Ministers or council of advisors have been regarded by ancient Indian
political thinkers as a very vital organ of the body politic.
• The Mahābhārata observes at one place that the king is as vitally
dependent upon ministers as animals are upon clouds, brahmins on
the Vedas and women upon their husbands.
• Manusmriti points out that even a simple thing appears as difficult if
one is to do it single handed; why then attempt to run the complex
machinery of the administration without the assistance of ministers.
• The size of this mantriparishad or council of ministers varied, and the
authorities suggested figures ranging from seven to thirty-seven.
Council of Ministers
• It seems that the body was divided into two parts mantrina and
mantriparishad.
• Mantriparishad was the large body resembling a modern council of
ministers. It consisted of all the ministers.
• Mantrina was a smaller body or a core organization within the
mantriparishad largely resembling the modern cabinet.
• It included the few most important ministers like
• the Purohita (priest),
• Senapati (supreme commander of army) and
• Yuvaraja (the crown prince).
Council of Ministers
• The council's purpose was primarily to advise the king, and not to
govern, but it was no mere rubber-stamping body.
• Councilors should speak freely and openly and that the king should
consider their advice.
• In fact, the council often exerted great powers.
• It might transact business in the king's absence, and it might take
minor decisions without consulting him.
• The council of ministers was not merely a recording body, for very
often it used to suggest amendments to king's orders or even
recommended their total reversal.