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

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A CULT URAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
hands of a person, but in 'a gana or a group of people'.' The religious ganas or sanghas of the Jaina and Buddhist Orders were precisely based on this form of government.2 In the NC. references have been made to the gana of the Mallas and the Sarasvatas." Mention has also been made of the Abhira-visaya which was a republic under the Guptas." It is well known that the republics ceased to exist by the end of the 5th century A. D., and we get no information about them from our text.
(vii) Monarchies--Despite the references to the other types of States, monarchy was the usual form of government prevailing during the period. The political theories of our author are explicitly based on the monarchical form of government. The area ruled by a single king was known as rajya where the authority of the king was considered to be indespensable for the welfare of the State. This form of government is known to us as monarchy.'
King and Kingship
King was the sovereign head of the State and was also the nucleus of all the State-activities. In the NC. the remarks of a king are quoted as "although not the Lord of the whole of India, I am the master or Lord in my dominions at least.' Such statements indeed indicate recognition of king's sovereignty over the State. The Ksatriyas alone were regarded as eligible for kingship, but in practice non-Kṣatriyas also some
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but it seems to have been a kingdom divided into two, each of which was held by a king.-Upadhyaya, B. S., India in Kālidāsa, p. 111.
1. Altekar, op. cit., p. 71.
2. NG. 3, p. 305.
3. NC. 3, p. 195.
4. NC. 3, p. 425.
5. Jayaswal, op. cit., p. 166.
6. राज्यं नाम यावत्सु देशेषु एकभूपतेराज्ञा तावद्द देशप्रमाणं | - Brh. Vt. 5, p. 1338. 7. For Monarchies in ancient India see-Shamasastry, "Forms of
Government in Ancient India"-ABORI., Vol. XII (1930-31), pp. 1-24. 8. जइ वि णो भरहाहिवो तहावि अप्पणी रज्जे पभवामि - NC. 2, p. 465.
9. NC. 2, pp. 459, 467. Yuan Chwang also remarks-The sovereignty for many successive g nerations as been exercised only by the Ksatriyas