Political History of Northern India

SR No.: 001744
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Gulabchandra Chaudhary
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar
Publication Year: 1954
Total Pages: 482
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, History, & Culture
File Size: 10 MB

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES
us little that is absolutely new, but it confirms in a most striking manner the conclusions to which other evidences lead.
Let us discuss the political conception and ideas we get from these sources regarding the state and administration of the period.
1. Origin and conception of the state:
Jinasena and other Jain authors of our period record the tradition which traces the origin of the state. In the Ādi-purāna, Jinasena (8th century) says that formerly on the earth there was a blissful state (bhogabhūmi) where the people's worldly desires were very few. They got all they wanted, from the wish-yielding trees (kalpavyksas). Gradually, with the change of time, there was a fall from this ideal state. When all the wish-yielding trees were disappearing people were getting perplexed. The change in the universe caused havoc among them. They found several hindrances in the way of their life. They came to solve their difficulties before an eminent person of their age and he showed the timely solution of their daily problems. According to Jains there had been born twelve such eminent persons called patriarchs ( kulakāras) during the transition era. When all the wish-yielding trees entirely disappeared the Lord Rsabhadeva, the first exponent of Jainism, introduced six occupations : martial, agricultural, literary, artistic, commercial and industrial. He divided the people on earth into three classes, Ksatriya, Vaisya and Sudra according to their professions. There was no caste originally. He also established the system of law and order over the world. He planned and built villages and towns, grouping the former into circles of eight hundred, four hundred and two hundred. He created four great kings and placed under them a thousand smaller kings and feudatories. He founded the institutions of punishment and imprisonment. Formerly there was a light chastisement like mild rebuke, but in the changed circumstances some harsher punishments were needed. Jinasena says that for the preservation of man a coercive authority was essential. Nothing else could restrain the wicked from wicked ways. In the absence of coercion the world presents a condition of Matsya nyāya (the logic of the fish).5 Thus we find that a state of good order was established gradually. There was no divine creation or order. This Jainistic idea of origin of the state can strikingly be corroborated with ideas expressed in the
1 Ādi-purāna, III, Vs. 30-192; XVI, Vs. 130-190. 2 Ibid., III, Vs. 50-I90. 3 Ibid., XVI, Vs. 130-190. * Ibid., XVI, V. 241-257. 6 Ibid., XVI, V, 251-252,