Sarkar 1921 - Hindu Theory of The State
Sarkar 1921 - Hindu Theory of The State
Sarkar 1921 - Hindu Theory of The State
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THE HINDU THEORY OF THE STATE
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80 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. XXXVI
ten notions of right. The more men there are, the more con-
ceptions of right will there be. Consequently each man ap-
proves his own notion of right and denounces every other
man's. So they denounce one another."
The Hobbesian "' law of beasts and birds" or the Naturprozess
of Gumplowicz is the logic (ny4ya) of the fish (m2tsya) in
India. Should there be no ruler to wield punishment on earth,
says the Mahabharata' (c. B. C. 6oo-A. D. 200), " the
stronger would devour the weak like fishes in water. It is re-
lated that in days of yore people were ruined through sover-
eignlessness, devouring one another like the stronger fishes
preying upon the feebler". In the Manu Samhita2 likewise
we are told that " the strong would devour the weak like fishes "
if there were a virtual reversion to the non-state (if, for ex-
ample, the king were not vigilant in meting out punishment to
those that should be punished). The Ramayana3 also de-
scribes the non-state region as one in which " people ever de-
vour one another like fishes". And a few details about the
conditions in this non state are furnished in the Matsya-Purana,4
"The child, the old, the sick, the ascetic, the priest, the woman
and the widow would be preyed upon", as we read, "accord-
ing to the logic of the fish " (should danda or punishment fail
to be operative at the proper time).
The idea of the fish-like struggle for existence or self-asser-
tion was thus a generally accepted notion in the " floating liter-
ature" of Hindustan. It found an important place in the ex-
clusively political treatises also. It was exploited as early as
the latter half of the fourth century B. C. by Kautilya, one of
the first among the historical names in Hindu political science.
According to his Artha-shastras the logic of the fish prevails
2VII, 20.
CCCXXV, 9.
5I, 4 (Eng. trans. by R. Shamasastry).
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No. I] THE HINDU THEORY OF THE STATE 8i
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82 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. XXXVI
I Kishori Lal Sarkar's Rules of Interpretation in Hindu Law, Tagore Law Lec -
tures at the University of Calcutta, Lecture VI.
4 Ibid., LXVII, I 2.
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No. i] THE HINDU THEORY OF THE STATE 83
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84 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. XXXVI
A state is a state because it can coerce, restrain, compel.
Eliminate control or the coercive element from social life, and
the state as an entity vanishes. Danda is iberkaupt the very
essence of statal relations. No danda, no state. A danda-
less, i. e. sanctionless, state is a contradiction in terms.
We have noticed above that the absence of danda is tanta-
mount to mdtsya-nyc2ya or the state of nature. It is clear also
that property and dharma do not exist in that non-state. These
entities can have their roots only in the state. The whole
theory thus consists of two formulae:
I. No danda, no state.
II. (a) No state, no dharma.
(b) No state, no property.
What, then, is the rationale of this danda? What is it that
makes coercion the sine qua non of the state? Why is it that
the very idea of government should imply a restraint, a check,
a control, a sanction? In Hindu political philosophy the an-
swer to these questions is to be found in the " original nature
of man".
The phenomena of government are founded on the data of
human psychology. And in regard to them the general trend
of thought all the world over seems to have been the same.
In ancient China Hsun Tze (B. C. 305-235?) strongly con-
demned the doctrine of Mencius (B. C. 373-289) who had
postulated the " original goodness'" of human nature. Accord-
ing to him (Book XXIII)' " man is by nature wicked, his good-
ness is the result of nurture ". " A curved twig needs straight-
ening and heating and bending in order to become straight.
* ** And man who is by nature wicked needs teaching and
discipline in order to be right and requires the influence of Li
and Yi [Sittlichkeit] in order to be good. The ancient rulers
understood the native viciousness of man, . . . and therefore
created morals, laws and institutions in order that human in-
stincts and impulses might be disciplined and transformed ".
Let us now turn to the Western world. Seneca, the Stoic
philosopher of the first century A. D., " looked upon the insti-
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No. I] THE HINDU THEORY OF THE STATE 85
4 II, 42.
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86 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. XXXVI
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No. I] THE HINDU THEORY OF THE STATE 87
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88 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. XXXVI
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No. I] THE HINDU THEORY OF THE STATE 89
"II, 39.
s VII, 19.
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90 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY
'VII 28.
2 VII, 30.
3 Vide the present author's " Theory of Property, Law and Social Order in Hindu
Political Philosophy " in the International 7ournal of Ethics (April, 1920), for the
Indian conception of the state as the means for the furtherance of the highest good.
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