Secular and Pluralistic Elements in the Idea of State in Early India

This book presents a comprehensive and critical account of the views of early Indian thinkers on the nature of political domain pertaining to the crucial issues of secularism and pluralism. It will help a better understanding of some of the most urgent concerns of contemporary India.The theme has been situated within the prevalent cultural and intellectual milieu and the analysis has been focussed on some of the most tangled questions. The issues like those of state formation, the relations between the transcendental and sacred on the one hand and the worldly and political on the other, the historical evolution of the science of politics, etc., cover some of the focussed areas. The historical context within which the discipline of politics has its genesis and growth and how that context influenced the outlook of the political thinkers have been clarified. Linkages between the existential diversity of the body politic and the compulsions of political power, pressures of elite groups, etc., have received special attention. How the perception of these linkages influenced the crystallization of the views on the role and functions of state has also been analyzed. The approaches of various schools of thought, particularly the arthasastra and dharmasastra, to these questions have been examined in some detail and both the divergence and convergence of attitude between them have been elucidated.