Book review
Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India, 2nd edition
by Ram Sharan Sharma.
This is the enlarged and revised edition of the author’s 1959
publication with the same title wherein he had added a few new
chapters and omitted on the other hand two chapters of primarily
economical interest.
The author has devoted special attention to independent chapters
assigned to political ideas in this book that occupy a comparatively
minor place, but that is no measure of how more or less importance
they hold in the political history of Indian Subcontinent.
He is also seen not to freed himself from influence of Jayaswal, a
nationalist historian despite consciously aware of Jayaswal’s patriotic
bias and enthusiastic but exaggerating remarks. Moreover, he is also
seen to borrow some of the preconceived ideas from the writings of
Friedrich Engels; all which contributed for some of his doubtful
conclusions. Nevertheless, the authenticity of the proposed theme
still remained unchallenged throughout the 24 chapters.
Through chapter eighteen and nineteen the book dissects the
process of development of decentralized administration in which
towns, feudatories and military elements came to the forefront in
both the Deccan and North India. This was partly neutralized by the
emphasis on the divinity of the king. The Kusana princes assumed the
title of Devaputra and instituted the cult of the worship of the dead
king, and the Satavahana princes came to be compared to deified
epic heroes.
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Primary concerns of chapter eighteen – THE SATAVAHANA POLITY, is
the profuse use of coins and iron tools; their megalithic legacy which
had created military, artisanal and agricultural preconditions for the
formations of the Satavahana state, society and economy.
It demonstrates their enormous trade with the Mediterranean region
and the influx of the Roman money coupled with the rise of urban
settlements. It argues by over-emphasising on how Satavahanas were
the earliest Deccan dynasties to be brahmanised. The text naturally
traces its elements from Asokan system, for instance, the continued
use of word- raja, amatyas and rajukas in same prakrit language.
The text echoes a rough fiscal system of Satavahanas which seems to
have been collected in both cash and kind as it demonstrates the
necessity of extending a royal share called ‘bhoga’. Seni or Sreni
inscriptions mentions evidently about the guilds which constituted a
great source of economic stability.
In the adjacent pages it deals with system of administration retaining
few from Asokan rule but several new ones as well that continued by
Vakatakas and Guptas spreading both northward and southward.
The author also claims that the royal responsibility for maintaining
the existing social order was first stressed by the Satavahanas and
further asserts that the picture of matrilineal inheritance or exact
mode of succession is unclear but metronymics suggest that princes
did not owe their throne to their father.
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Chapter nineteen – KUSANA POLITY, is set in the background of
expansion of trade and the needs of administration created by
conquest in an unfamiliar area. The book examines the transition
that has been brought in the urban economy after the largest issuing
of copper coins, adding up the importance of artisans and merchants
which was somewhat limited in Satavahana rule. Similarly, it also
draws parallel with Mauryas when it comes to the use of
grandiloquent titles.
R S Sharma also tries to uncover unambiguous declaration of religion
they professed. He states that the coins which were an important
insignia of sovereignty, broadly indicate the faith to which they
belonged. Unlike Mauryans, in spite of their proclaimed preference
for Buddhism or Saivism the Kusana never adopted a policy of
religious persecution but a policy of live and let live.
It also draws attention on how profoundly some of the practices
introduced by Kusana rulers left some impression on later rulers for
instance the idea of divinity and encouragement of guilds of artisans
and merchants which continued in Gupta times.
However, according to the text the Kusana failed to evolve any sound
provincial system either on Maurya or Roman lines, there feudatory
character made a lasting impact on Indian soil. The book records
pages on dual kinship that was prevalent in some parts of northern
India which ideally acted as check on power but towards the end
existed in rudimentary form and hierarchical organization in the
feudatory system continued to set legal operations.
The historical tracing of strength, organization and distribution of
Kusana army is unfortunately unknown and unspoken. Above all,
Kusana continued the old pattern of village administration by
gramika.
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Written for a wide audience, the book draws on vast and often
diverse resources, ranging from historical and religious text to
multiple other histories of tribal republic and empires. R S Sharma’s
book in spite of several shortcomings is a valuable and stimulating
contribution to an important aspect of ancient Indian history. Its
ultimate aim was to trace how far the elements of property, family,
tribe, caste, religion and land system contributed to the formations of
political ideas and institutions in early India. It contains a very useful
bibliography which can build up a scientific methodology of research,
free from vague generations.
Thankyou!
