DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

252 MANUSMRTI THEORY OF THE STATE [8.3
impassable Vindhya mountain to lie flat, overcame “demons” whose
cults may some day be traced locally, and drank up the ocean. Whether
this indicates early colonization by members of the Agastya gotra is
not clear. The doubtful analysis of such material is less fruitful than
the examination of the Manusmrti still a very authoritative brahmin
document. It belongs, in its present form, substantially to the period
under discussion. The book is meant primarily for brahmins. A great
part is taken up with ritual and spiritual matters that most concern the
priesthood. Compilation from diverse sources and accepted traditions
has left its mark in contradictory statements, which combine with
obscure rules to give Hindu law its flexible practice and completely
illogical theory. The most interesting portion is that on administration,
particularly for its contrast with the Arthasastra (which has silently
influenced it nevertheless). Force lies at the very foundations of the
state and social order :
“For the king’s sake, the Lord formerly created his own son, Punishment (danda),
the protector of all creatures, the (incarnate) law, formed of Brahma’s glory. (Ms. 7.14)
... Punishment alone governs all created beings, punishment watches over them while
they sleep; the wise declare punishment to be law (dharma) Ms. 7.18) . ., The whole
world is kept in order by punishment. For a guiltless man is hard to find (Ms. 7.22).
(The king) should carefully compel the vais*yas and the sudras to perform the work
(prescribed) for them; for it these two castes swerved from their duties, they would
throw the whole world into confusion”. (Ms. 8.418).
The function of the state was to coerce the producers to support the
ruling classes, for the sudra does all the manual work, the vaisya
cattle-keeping and trade in the Ms. scheme. This panegyric on force in
a book called a dharma-sdsra proves that brahminism had come a long
w T ay from the Asokan concept of dharma as social ethics. Reality
being what it is, the section on apaddharma allows even the higher
castes to indulge in trade, money-lending, and the like when in
difficulties under pressure of necessity according to Ms. 8.348, even
brahmins could, in distress, take to the profession of arms (cf. also
Jat 495).