Cultural Study of Nisitha Curni

SR No.: 001743
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Madhu Sen
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 432
Language: English, Prakrit
Classification: Book_English, Agam, Canon, & Literature
File Size: 23 MB

Page 39

POLITY AND ADMINISTRATION
19
definition to this word has been given in the NC." Verajja is explained as (i) States going on traditional hostility, (ii) or where hostility has started recently, (iii) or the State occupied by an inimical king, where the government was in a state of anarchy due to aggressions of the enemy because of which the cities and villages had been devastated, (iv) or a State where the king is deserted or forsaken by all his īśvaras (savvesara), that is the servants (bhrtyas)", (v) or a State without a ruler to the throne because of the death or abdication of its former king. Here, various explanations given to the same word are itself indicative of the vagueness and uncertainty of the .author's conception of this term. The commentator of the Brhatkal pa Bhasya, in a later period, while explaining these
ese various definitions of vairājya clearly states that this word may be derived in various ways to give a suitable meaning istarī paniş pattiḥ sarvatrā pi niruktivasat).3 The author of the NC. has evidently derived the word on its etymological grounds without considering its political significance.
However, an analysis of the contents reveal that 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the above mentioned definitions explain verajja only as “States in mutual hostility” or “States captured by enemy's or "a kingless State because of the death or abdication of its king”, and bear hardly any constitutional significance. But the 4th definition is significant from the political point of view, since it points towards the constitutional significance of the term. It is worthwhile to note that the word "all the iśvaras' ( savussara ) is specifically explained as “the servants' (bhịtya-ityarthaḥ )* which infers that they must have been
VY
preponderates. Shamasastry takes vairājya to mean 'foreign rule' which comes into existence by seizing the country from its king still alive.--Arthalāstra, Tr. p. 395; see also-Jayaswal, op. cit., pp. 82-83;
Altekar, op. cit., p. 77. 1. NO. 3, pp. 197-98. 2. जस्स राइणो रज्जे सव्वेसरा विरजंति--भृत्या इत्यर्थः, तं रज्ज रज्जेणं विरत्तं भण्णति,
va acovi-NC. 3, p. 197. 3. Brh. V 7. 3, p. 779. 4. Sce above note 2.