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
mind and character, and without training in them a king will perish like a goadless elephant.
Apart from these, Somadeva gives certain other instructions. He warns the king against too much indulgence in Kāma (Lust). The king is advised to practise Dharma, Artha and Kāma proportionately without injuring the interests of one another. For him it is the only way to lead a happy life. He also advises the king to remain aloof from certain evils called vyasanas. Some of them are the sexual indulgence, intoxication, hunting, gambling, back biting and extravagance. He says that a single vyasana is enough to destroy a powerful king, even possessing four kinds of armies, what to say if all of them are combined.3 A good king should exert to eradicate these evils, keeping himself in the association of the learned men and away from the evil-doers.
Somadeva prescribes only one substitute for learning. He says that even without studying these sciences one can gain knowledge by contacts with the society of learned men 5 who possess a high family tradition and are endowed with high moral character and purity by birth.6
Fortunately, during our period we find well educated kings. The Prabhāvaka-carita says that Āma, the successor of Yasovarman, was a well trained king, proficient in all kinds or learning. He was taught by a learned scholar named Vappabhattisūri.? The Prabandha-cintamani says that Bhoja had studied all the treatises on king-craft, learnt the use of thirty-six weapons and attained the farther shore of the ocean of 72 accomplishments.8 Some of the princes of our period got their training under the able guidance of ministers. Thus we know that Jayasimha Siddharāja was trained by the minister Sāntu in state-craft.9 Several instances can be multiplied from the Jain sources, where the princes are seen to have been imparted training by their fathers and teachers to become ideal kings.
1 Ibid., p. 61: 317@TE OM TE TAT ETT TT TT facuta 2 Ibid., p. 33: anttajian Frů aaa aa: get 10 ar sarf aaai
3 Ibid., PP. 177, 179: HT: 1 garanfy TEDUZIVNÍ ST Forfa किं पुनर्नाष्टादशभिः।
4 Ibid., p. 173: Fargadant: & fatti 5 Ibid., p. 62: 377thatatsia faf5 anfati aiciffhaihifa 8 Ibid., p. 68: d e
JET TE
T 17:1 ? SJGM., XIII, p. 82.
* Ibid., I, p. 22: FECHAJTE: qafarge sigareta u FBTİNTA: समस्तलक्षणलक्षितो ववृधे।
" SJGM., II, p. 35: 3194 ga A-TATT utenfor ita: 1