Jain Journal 1974 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 42

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JAIN JOURNAL
district into towns and villages. That is to say, as distinct from the old gentile order of the Kulakaras the state under Rsabhadeva divides its subjects according to territory, as the people became mobile.
The establishment of a public power was the second distinguishing feature of the state organized by Rsabhadeva, as it was necessary because a self-acting armed force of the population became impossible since the split of the social order into classes or castes- Brāhmaṇa, Kșatriya, Vaišya and Sūdral5.
F. Engels explains that “this public power exists in every state ; it consists not merely of armed men but also material adjuncts, prisons and institutions of coercion of all kinds, of which gentile society knew nothing. It may be very insignificant, almost infinitesimal, in societies where class antagonisms are still undeveloped and in out of the way places, as was the case at certain times in certain regions in the United States of America” 16.
As observed before, there were three kinds of moral punishment in the Age of the Kulakaras, viz. hakār (expression of regret and disapproval), makâr (prohibition) and dhikkār (reproach). Dhigdanda and Vāgdanda are also referred to in the Yajñavalkya Smsti17. Next Rsabhadeva brought into force the law of punishment by confinement to a particular region (mandalabandha) and institutions of coercion with the birth of the State in the beginning of civilization, while his son Bharata introduced caraka or imprisonment and chaviccheya or mutilation of hand, foot, nose, etc.18.
The contributions from the citizens in the form of taxes became necessary to maintain this public power ; they were absolutely unknown in the Kulakara society19. “As civilization advances, these taxes become inadequate ; the state makes drafts on the future, contracts loans, public debts"20.
Now the officials or the Government as the organ of society stood above society of free people of the Kulakara order, having possessed
15 Acaranga Niryukti, p. 7. 16 The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, p. 167. 17 Yajnavalkyą Smrti, 1, 13. 367. 18 Jambudvipa Pannatti, 2.29 ; Thananga, 7. 557. 1. See the Second Section. 20 The Origin of the Family, Private property and the State, p. 168.