Jain Journal 1974 01

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

Page 43

JANUARY, 1974
127
of the public power and of the right to levy taxes, thus they were becoming alien to the society without having any respect from the people. The Kulakaras commanded the unstrained and undisputed respect of the people, whereas the future kings of civilization did not. They represented something outside the society and above it, while the Kulakaras stood in the midst of the society.
It was the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class which became politically dominant class (i.e. the Ksatriya-Vaisya-class) through the medium of the state and in this way acquired new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class, the Sūdras, who had no place in the society and became the tail of the Brāhmanas, the Ksatriyas and the Vaisyas—the three exploiting classes. Therefore, the state did not exist from all eternity, but it came into existence at a certain stage of civilization from the need to hold class antagonisms in check and in the midst of the conflict of the classes at the same time under the leadership of Rsabhadeva, the first tribal king in ancient India, according to the Jaina tradition.