Component-I (A) – Personal details:

Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy

Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Prof. Suchandra Ghosh

Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta.

Prof. Suchandra Ghosh

Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta. &
Mr. Dev Kumar Jhanjh

Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy

Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.
Component-I (B) – Description of module:

Subject Name Indian Culture

Paper Name Indian Polity

Module Name/Title Sources of Ancient Indian Polity

Module Id IC / POLT / 01

Pre requisites knowledge of a general understanding of the

sources for studying ancient Indian history

Objectives Introducing the learner to the variety of sources

used for constructing Ancient Indian Polity

Keywords Megasthenes, Arthasastra, Nitisara,

Dighanikaya, M ahasammata, Prasasti, Udaygiri
cave

E-text (Quadrant-I) :

1. Introduction

To construct a meaningful image of Ancient Indian polity, a thorough understanding of the

available evidence is indispensible and interpretations are ultimately based on evidence
derived from the sources of history. In this module our focus would be to look at the sources
that are being used to understand the nature of ancient Indian Polity. It is to be mentioned
here that the sources of ancient Indian history in general is extremely limited and lack
chronologically dated texts. That’s why historians rely heavily on the archaeological artefacts
for the construction and reconstruction of the past. But in case of polity we have to put our
thrust more on textual, epigraphic, numismatics and art historical sources rather than field
archaeological materials. Sometimes, a particular fact has been portrayed differently or
contrarily in different sources. Here Ranabir Chakravarti rightly points out that the historian
has to confront a variety of sources and indicate why and how a particular source is
preferred to other sources. Textual sources are immensely diverse and belong to different
genres. Epigraphic records are also varied. However a holistic study of these diverse
sources with a method that critically explores the meaning of the written words or visuals
may help us in our understanding of, even partially, the political organization of early India.
Our sources point towards two broad system of political organization: monarchical and non-
monarchical till the early historical period but finally the monarchical structure triumphed. The
different category of sources would be discussed later.

2. Historiography:

In the oriental and utilitarian historiography, early India was seen as land of philosophers
only excelling in spiritual and mystic thoughts, lacking in political or material speculation.
Against this imperialist ideology, the Indian scholars (the nationalists) attempted to
understand the polity from the late nineteenth century onwards. The western writings
attempted of presenting India as the land of despotism which was strongly challenged by the
nationalist historians. R.C. Dutt in his article ‘Civilisation in the Brāhmaṇa period’, presented
an ideal picture of the king who did justice to all. In 1907, A.C. Das highlighted the existence
of limited monarchy, though not absolute. He also pointed out the existence of local self-
government in ancient India in a better form than the existing British rule. The writings of
K.P. Jayaswal between 1912 and 1915, which formed the subject of Hindu Polity in 1924,
set a bench mark in this line and were repeatedly used by the following generation of
scholars. According to Jayaswal, the ancient Hindu political system was partly of republics of
the Athenian type, and of constitutional monarchies like Great Britain. Following years saw
the flood of discussion on ancient Indian polity through the writings of P.N. Banerjea, K.V.
Rangaswami, R.C. Majumdar, Shamasastry, N.N. Law, R.K. Mookerji and so on. Most
impressive among these was U.N. Ghosal’s A History of Hindu Political Theories. Ghosal not
only rejected Maxmüller and Bloomfield’s theory of absence of state in ancient India but also
stated that the Indian states were not modelled after a uniform view, that of despotic
monarchy.

On one hand, by projecting the autocratic rule, lack of idea of nationhood, state or self-
government in early India, the imperialist writers tried to pave the way of autocratic rule over
India just as a continuation of the earlier tradition. On the contrary, the writings of Indian
scholars presented an encouraging picture of the past. The nationalist writings always
highlighted a bright picture of the past. It always tried to prove the superiority of ancient
institutions of India over those of the ancient west. Deliberate attempts were taken to prove
ancient Indian state as secular without discussion on religious aspects of ancient Indian
polity. Completely different from these approaches are the works of R.S. Sharma, Romlia
Thapar, B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Hermann Kulke who not only tried to look at the state society
from a different angle but also traced the route from pre-state to state. Chattopadhyaya,
Kulke and Thapar try to view political formation beyond the centralization and
decentralization debate. The changing characters of the state in relation to social, political
and cultural conditions are analysed now with a critical approach to sources.
Chattopadhyaya largely depending on land grant charters tried to understand the process of
political formation which led to the emergence of regional state structures in early medieval
India (c. 600-1300 CE).

3. Types of Sources:

Sources of ancient Indian Polity can be categorized broadly into two groups-Textual and
Archaeological which are further subdivided into other categories as well. The earliest
sources throwing light on ancient Indian political ideas and institutions come from the Vedic
literature which roughly belongs to the period between c. BCE. 1500-600. It is to be
mentioned here that the Vedas being mainly religious in nature, incidentally throws light on
the polity of the concerned time.

3.1 The Vedas: The Ṛgveda is the earliest among the Vedas which informs us about the
early Vedic period (c. 1500-1000 BCE.). Rests three Vedasaṁhitās namely, Sāma, Yaju and
Atharvaveda along with the Brāhmaṇa, Sāhitya, Āraṇyaka and Upaṇiṣad help us to
understand the later Vedic polity of c. 1000-600 BCE. The Vedas introduces us with three
types of popular assemblies, namely Sabhā, Samiti and Vidatha. The Ṛgveda mentions
Sabhā and Samiti for eight and six times and Vidatha occurs for 122 times. The Atharvaveda
mentions Sabhā and Samiti as the two daughter of Prajāpati. The Sabhā and Samiti
probably exercised some control over the ruling chief. Another institution Vidatha though
comparatively primitive in nature shared some common features with both the Sabhā and
Samiti. According to R.S. Sharma, it was the earliest folk assembly of the Indo-Aryans
attended by both men and women, performing all kinds of functions. Moreover along with the
ordinary people we find the presence of the ruler (samrāṭ) in Vidatha, possibly presents him
merely as a chief of a clan or tribe (viśapati) and not as a full-fledged king of the monarchical
structure. The Ṛgvedic people were semi-nomadic people and the different clans were
constantly engaged in fighting for cows. The Ṛgvedic ruler or the rājan was known as gopati
(head of herds of cattle).

Smaller communities of Ṛgvedic period gradually started merging into larger units in later
Vedic phase. In contrast to tribal chieftainship of earlier Ṛgvedic times, the later-Vedic polity
witnesses the beginning of elements of state, taxation system and administrative machinery
which was supported by the introduction of stable agriculture. Reference from the Atharva
Veda expressing the wishes of controlling the rāṣṭra (possibly territory) by the king can be
cited in this context. We may also mention that the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa calls the later Vedic
king as rāṣṭrabhṛta (saviour of the kingdom). Definitely some components of state system
began to emerge in this phase unlike the Vedic times; but monarchical system did not
develop. It would be pertinent here to call this phase as transitional from pre-state to state or
in R.S. Sharma’s words ‘threshold of a state system’.

3.2 The Dharmaśāstras: The Dharmaśāstras and the Dharmasūtras (c. 600-300 BCE)
besides providing religious information also inform us about polity, society, economy and so
on. These texts are prescriptive in nature. The main purpose of the Dharmaśāstric texts was
the continuation and firm establishment of traditional Vedic varṇāśramadharma.
Nevertheless, they speak about the duties of the king and provide laws regarding taxation
and the protection of property. Among the Dharmaśāstric texts, Manusmṛti (c. BCE 200-
200CE) needs special attention. Chapter VII of this text deals with rājadharma. It strongly
proclaims the divinity of rulers as it consisted the king as a great god in human form. Other
texts of this genre are Yājñavalkasmṛti, Vaśiṣṭha’s Dharmaśāstra, Bṛhaspatismṛti,
Narādasmṛti and so one. The Yājñavalkasmṛti enumerates the daily routine of the king in the
rājadharma section. In many cases commentaries were added later to these texts. However
these are compilations of certain ideals without clear specificities, either geographical or
chronological.

3.3 The Mahābhārata and The Rāmāyaṇa: Both the epics the Mahābharata (c. BCE 400-
400 CE) and the Rāmāyaṇa (c. BCE 200-200 CE) give us ideas about the political
institutions and practice during the period they belonged to. The three parvas of
Mahābhārata, namely, the Sabhā, Śānti and Anuśāsana and particularly the rājadhrama
section of the Śāntiparva is the most important one in this regard. It discusses about the
theories on the origin of kingship and contractual elements with support from divinities,
duties of a ruler and rules of good governance. It also provides the first rational brahmanical
justification for the royalty leading to the state power. The Rāmāyaṇa, though less in
comparison to length and uses to the Mahābhārata, still talks about the duties of the king, his
officials and other political institutions. What is striking is the mention of arājaka (kingless
state). It speaks of the duties of a king, his officials and other political institutions which
correspond to the Gupta state structure, indicating the date of composition of this section in
Gupta times.

3.4 The Purāṇas: The Purāṇas are literary texts which again though religious in nature also
inform us about the political organisations. The total numberof Mahā Purāṇas are eighteen
and were written in different times. Several Purāṇas such as the Vāyu, Matsya and Viṣṇu
were completed by c. 4th-5th centuries CE and provide the information about the polity of that
period. It is to be mentioned here that the Purāṇic writers catalogued the name of the ruling
dynasties in future tense in order to claim them as future viewer. F.E. Pargiter and R.C.
Hazra’s analysis regarding the historical importance of the Purāṇas should be cited in this
context. Later we have the category of Upapurāṇas which were more regio- specific

3.5 The Arthaśāstra: The Arthaśāstra (c. 2nd century BCE-1st century CE) provides us the
most important source on state and statecraft. At the same time it is a treatise on the science
of wealth and on political science called daṇḍaniti as well. Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra, for the first
time, presents a clear picture of the state. Divided into 15 adhikaraṇas and 180 prakaraṇas it
mainly talks on the administrative system referring to the seven elements of the state
(saptaprakṛti). The seven elements are svāmi (head of the state), amātya (governmental
machinery), janapada (territory and population), durga (fortified capital), kośa (treasury),
daṇḍa (coercive power) and mitra (friends). The preceding elements are more important
than the succeeding one. Kauṭilya also refers to the nature of calamities affecting these
seven elements. Among these elements the king is the most important one whom Kauṭilya
equates with the state. (rājā rājyāmiti prakṛtisaṁkṣepaḥ) These seven elements can also be
seen in the later texts, though with minor changes of terminology. It is to be mentioned here
that the Arthaśāstra, for the first time lays down the importance of an elaborate espionage
system. Also it is significant for its concept of ten circles of states (daśarāja maṇḍala) and six
fold policy (ṣāḍguṇyam) to deal with other powers.

3.6 Kāmandaka’s Nītisāra (c. 500-700CE): This is a treatise on politics written in Sanskrit. It
discusses the principles according to which a king should rule his kingdom and how he could
attain political paramouncy and prosperity for himself and his subjects. Though based on the
model of the Arthaśāstra, the text has its individuality and engages with themes like kingship
and violence or the ruler’s relationship with his courtiers.

3.7 Somadevasūri’s Nītivākyāmṛtam (c. 10th century CE) was also greatly influenced by
the Arthaśāstra. Though it heavily draws its subject from the earlier texts, still can be used as
an important text on early medieval polity. Somadevasūri was a poet in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa court.

3.8 The Buddhist and the Jain texts: References of the states and administration can also
be gleaned from the early Pāli canonical as well as non-canonical texts during the time of the
Buddha and the Mahāvīra. The Mahāvagga and Cullavagga sections of Vinaya Piṭaka (c. 5th
century BCE) mention about the political organisation of Buddhist saṁgha. The Jātakas (c.
2nd century BCE), birth stories of the Buddha speak of the duties of the king, administration
and so on. The Dīgha Nikāya (c. 3rd century BCE) clearly tells about the origin of the kingship
or the state. It conceives of a happy, peaceful and pure society—an ideal one in ancient
times. Gradually differences in different spheres of life appeared and vices and several
problems plagued the people. The people could not get rid of these problems in spite
agreements among themselves for setting up institutions of the family and property. These
acts, in fact, led to more difficulties. Hence the people agreed to choose or elect as their
chief (i.e. king) a person who was considered to be most favoured, most attractive and most
capable. The chosen or elected person would be one “who should be wrathful where
indignation is right, who should censure that which rightly be censured and who should
banish him who deserves to be banished”. The people agreed to give him in return, a portion
of the rice produced by them. The person chosen was mahāsammata (the great approved
one). Later Buddhist texts such as the Mahāvastu (c. 1st century BCE) also throw
considerable light on the emergence of kingship. The Jain Purāṇas belonged to a late period
of c. 8th-9th Century CE speaks about the origin of the state with special emphasis on the
pre-state polity. In these accounts many historians have traced elements of a contract in the
origin of kingship. The typical feature of the state according to these texts is limited within the
tax collection which highlights the importance of koṣa. Strikingly enough they are silent about
the rest of the elements mentioned in Saptāṅga theory.

3.9 Other Indigenous texts: Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (c. 5th century BCE), a text on grammar
and its commentary on Mahābhāṣya by Paṭañjali (c. 2nd century BCE) fall under this
category. Primarily, their subject matter does not concern with polity; only incidental
references can be deduced from these texts. While the former refers to the existence of
gaṇasaṁgha (often translated as republics) type of polity, the later throw light on the post-
Mauryan administration. Another type of texts, the Saṅgam literature (c. 3 rd century BCE-3rd
century CE) captures the changing political landscape of far south. How the land of the
Chola, Chera, Pāṇḍyas witnessed the transition from clan based organisation to the
dominance of the chief ultimately leading towards monarchy can be gleaned from this
sources.

3.10 Foreign Accounts: Among the foreign sources Greek and Chinese accounts supply
valuable data on polity. Historians of Alexander left impression about the administrative
structure of the Indian states which encountered him during his campaign (c. 326-325 BCE).
On the other hand, Megasthenes’s Indika (original has not been survived; glimpses can be
found from the writings of Arrian, Strabo and Diodorus Siculus) provides dependable records
of the Maurya administration during the time of Chandragupta Maurya. Megasthenes’s
account is important for the study of military administration, municipal organization and
revenue system of the Maurya period.

The Chinese sources throw light on the Gupta and post-Gupta polity (c. 5th-7th century CE).
The main purpose of these accounts which come from the Chinese travellers was to visit the
Buddhist sites; though incidentally they inform us about the administration. For example, Fa-
hsien (c. 399-414 CE) speaks of the system of government that prevailed in Madhyadeśa
and western Bihar. Xuan Zang (c. 629-645 CE) talks about the system of command run by
his patron Harṣavardhana.

The Perso-Arabic literature also throws ample light on early Indian polity. We may mention
here Alberuni’s work and travelogues of Arab geographers and merchants.

In contrast to the literary texts discussed above, the archaeological evidences (will be
discussed) portray more authentic picture of the contemporary polity as they belong to the
same period. Another advantage of archaeological artefacts (Inscriptions and Coins) lies
within their unchangeable nature; texts cannot be inserted later within them unlike the literary
sources which have been subjected to many revisions and later interpolation.

4. Archaeological Sources

4.1 Inscriptions: The inscriptions are the earliest datable written records from early India.
Inscriptions are of different types such as royal proclamations, donative records, landgrants,
praśastis (eulogy), pilgrim records and so on. However, for the earliest period most
inscriptions are political records issued by the royal authority. The Mauryas (c. 3 rd century
BCE) were the earliest Indian power to inscribe their political and administrative policies on
hard surface. Barring a couple of stray inscriptions found from Mahasthan, Sougara and the
donative inscription of Daśaratha from Barabar cave, all the Mauryan period inscriptions are
the codified political messages commissioned by the emperor Asoka. However, inscriptions
continued to be a major tool of political propaganda even after the Maurya times, even
though the nature of inscriptions changed. Gradually Sanskrit had replaced Prākṛt as the
major epigraphic language and direct voice of the emperor was replaced by elaborate
praśastis by the court poets, from the 2nd century BCE onwards, but most notably under the
Guptas. The Hathigumpha inscription of Khāravela (c. 2nd-1st century BCE), Allahabad pillar
inscription of Samudragupta (c. 4th century CE) are the best specimen of this type. While the
former provide detail account of Khāravela’s reign year by year; the latter tells us about
Samudragupta’s military achievements. From the Gupta period onwards, particularly for
understanding the polity of post-Gupta times, land grant charters, by far provide the most
important data. Mention of numerous officials in the land grant charters of post-Gupta time
definitely indicates complex state structure unlike the earlier phase. While inscriptions of the
Gupta times are important for studying provincial and district level administration, the post-
Gupta inscriptions are a major source for understanding the sāmanta system; the history of
revenue collection and administration.

4.2 Coins: Though the earliest coins from the subcontinent dates back to c. 6th-5th century
BCE, they hardly throw light on polity. From the post-Maurya period onwards they become
more useful for the study of ancient Indian polity. The epithets and the depiction of various
deities on the Indo-Greek and Kuṣāṇa coins disclose the relation between religion and polity.
The deities chosen by the Indo-Greek kings for representation on coins tended to be those
that could be used as symbols of power, such as Zeus, Herakles, Athena. The Kuṣāṇa coins
clearly demonstrate the Kuṣāṇas’ claim for divinity and divine descent.
The gaṇasaṁghas issued coins with legends. It has been suggested that the compound
term gaṇa-saṁgha or gaṇa-rājya has the connotation of gaṇa meaning claimant of equal
status and saṁgha meaning an assembly and rājya has reference to governance. They
followed non-monarchical structure of government. So called tribal/non-monarchical coins of
the Yaudheyas, Kuṇindas, Mālavas, Sibis help us to understand their form of governance
which has often been considered as republics. For example, the occurrence of the term
Yaudeya gaṇasya jayaḥ on the numismatic specimens of the Yaudheyas presents the
picture of their gaṇasaṁgha type of polity. It is to be mentioned here that the presence of the
term rājñaḥ on some of the coins of this groups, like on the issues of the Kuṇindas should
not be interpreted as king of a full-fledged monarchy. Their association with the powers like
Indo-Greeks, Śakas and Kuṣāṇas, might have influenced them to use this practice which at
its best can be explained as their urge towards monarchy. The Gupta coins also throw
important light to understand the nature of kingship and administration. The Chandragupta-
Kumāradevī type coin issued by Chandragupta I bears the testimony of the fact that the
Lichchhavis and Guptas at a certain point of time came close and also made an alliance
might be interpreted as matrimonial alliances. The issue of aśvamedha type of coins by
Samudragupta and Kumāragupta I reflect a strong monarchical structure of the Guptas
Furthermore, like the Kuṣāṇas, the Guptas also took deliberate attempts to attribute divine
powers to the state which is evident through their coins. Coins could be used as political
statement.

4.3 Art: In the visual arts there is ample scope for connecting political reality with
representation of gods and goddesses. The image of the famous rock relief of the boar
incarnation of Viṣṇu at Udaygiri, Madhya Pradesh is a glowing example. The tremendous
size and strength of the boar stands in powerful contrast to the delicate goddess Earth who
clings to his tusk, to the coiling snake shaped demon below who pays obeisance and to the
small size of the gods and heavenly seers adoring him in the skies. The Varāha panel is also
remarkable in that it has no major precedent and the visual form seems to have been drawn
not just on the myths of the god but also on the act of the king Candragupta II. The act
relates to his defeat of the western Kṣatrapa rulers which brought him to the pinnacle of
glory. It is in this context that the imposing relief of Varāha at Udaygiri was created.
Chandragupta II has indeed rescued the earth from the clutches of the enemies like the boar
shaped Viṣṇu of the Varāha myth. The political implication of the Varāha image at Udaygiri
was first stressed by V.S. Agrawala. With this image one can add the expression ‘kritsna
prithvi jayartthena’ used in the Udaygiri Cave inscription No.2 of Chandragupta II; a claim
referring to his expedition against the Śakas of Western India. Identification of kings and
gods formed part of a royal ideology of divine kingship which was marvellously portrayed by
the Kuṣāṇa rulers through their coins and dynastic sanctuaries prior to the Guptas. An
unusual larger than life sculpture of horse carved out of beige sandstone has been found
from Khairigarh (UP). It has been suggested that this horse represents the sacrificial horse in
one of the aśvamedha sacrifices performed by Samudragupta but one cannot be definitive.
Representation of the horse of aśvamedha has been found both on the coins of
Samudragupta and Kumāragupta I. These might be instances of projection of power by apex
political authority. Political considerations also work in the placing of images in a temple.
Gerd Mevissen’s remarkable study reveals that in case of Rājasiṁheśvara temple, the
Pallava ruler placed all the Tripurāntaka images towards the direction of his main enemy, the
early Western Chalukyas located in north-western Deccan. In case of Rājarājeśvara temple
the Tripurāntaka images face all directions which can be indicated as Rājarāja’s well-known
claim of paramount over lordship. At Dārāśurāma, Rājarāja Chola II constructed the
monumental stone chariot for Tripurāntaka with an orientation from north to south as a last
great effort to regain control over his three southern enemies. Thus Tripurāntaka images
were introduced as a political statement by these rulers.
5. Summary :

The foregoing discussion indeed helps us to trace the changing scenario of ancient Indian
polity through the lens of varieties of sources. How the tribal assemblies of Ṛgvedic period
were replaced by territorial states of the later times, is attested from the above discussion.
Then the full-fledged state appeared with its large territorial base at Kośala and Magadha.
Next comes the Mauryan empire where Asokan dhamma was used as a political philosophy
to bind the vast empire. The Kuṣāṇas used the cult of the Empire and Emperor for political
purpose, Guptas continued with the theory of divine kingship and this continued even in the
succeeding centuries. The state structure became complex with the passage of time. The
immense importance of inscriptions and coins for sketching the outline of ancient Indian
polity demands special attention in this regard. Literary texts also help us to comprehend the
same scenario but they should be consulted with a bit caution as they were put to writing
much later. There is a possibility of finding political expression in religious art. It is to be
remembered here that any kind of study whether it’s on polity, society, economy or religion
cannot be understood by focusing on a single type of sources. The historical information
provided by a particular type of sources starts gaining importance and regarded as authentic
and dependable only when they receive corroboration from other category of evidences.