Rajadharma

General name for the “king’s dharma,”
or religious duty, which fell to him (or far
more rarely, her) by virtue of his role as
ruler. This notion proceeded from the
assumption in the dharma literature
that every person had a unique role to
play in society, a role that provided for
social stability but also brought individual fulfillment. The king’s most basic
duty was to maintain order in the realm,
since such peace enabled all others to
fulfill their own individual religious
duties (svadharma). The dharma literature conceives of maintaining order primarily through inflicting punishment
(danda), designed to remove some evildoers and frighten the rest into good
behavior. If the king succeeded in maintaining social order, then he could otherwise do as he pleased, with the proviso
that taxation should not be so high that
it was burdensome to the people.
Beyond this, the Indian theory of kingship was largely pragmatic.