General eligibility
- “mahAbhArata’s prescription (an ostensibly “brahmanical” source) placed in the mouth of the dying grandfather bhISma, as part of his lectures on statecraft, that a king should have 4 brAhmaNa & 4 shUdra ministers, 8 kSatriya ministers and 21 vaishya ministers. This may be due to the complexity of regulating various trades and crafts in an ncreasingly sophisticated society.”
brAhmaNas serving shUdra kings
Support
- “Kamalākarabhaṭṭa’s cousin Nilakaṇṭha, the author of Vyavahāra mayūkha explains the word nr̥pa “king” [ Vyavahāramayūkha, p. 2] in wording reminding us of Bālambhaṭṭa: nr̥pah prajā-pālanādhikr̥to yaḥ kaścit, na Kṣatriya eva - “The word nr̥pa ‘king’ refers to whoever is in charge of protecting the people, and is not restricted to a Kṣatriya.””
- Commenting on a quote from Manu, “A king desirous of taking care of the legal affairs along with Veda-knowing Brahmins and ministers should enter the court” [vyavahārān didrksus tu brāhmanaih saha pārthivaḥ / mantra-jñair mantribhiḥ sārdhaṁ vinītah praviśet sabhām], the Bālambhattī of Bālambhaṭṭa Pāyagunde [p. 5] says: pārthivah pr̥thivī-patih kṣatriyād anyaḥ api - “The word ‘king’ refers to the ruler of the kingdom, even someone other than a Kṣatriya.”
- Similar non-Kṣatriya interpretations of the word rājā are found elsewhere in the Dharmaśāstra literature [Dharmakosa, Vol. IV, Pt. II, pp. 780ff.; P.V. Kane 1973: 38-40].
Disagreement
- “On the other hand, we must contrast Gāgābhaṭṭas views on the same passages. These are found in his Dinakaroddyota Vyavahārakāṇḍa [manu script 37/1866-1868 at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, in Pune]. Citing the same verse of Manu: vyavahārān didr̥kṣus tu brāhmaṇaiḥ saha pārthivah / mantrajñair mantribhiś caiva vinītaḥ praviset sabhām //, Gāgābhaṭṭa says: “Only a properly consecrated king is entitled to look after the business of justice (vyavahāra). … Even though the word rāja refers to a particular Jāti, and in Dharmaśāstric passages, the word rāja often comes without any further specification, in those passages the word rāja refers to a Kṣatriya who is properly consecrated, since only such a consecrated Kṣatriya is entitled to look after justice” [vyavahāradarśane cābhiśiktasya rājno dhikāraḥ/ rājābhiśeka-samyukto brāhmano vā bahu-śrutaḥ / dharmāsana-gatah pasyed vyavahārān anulbaṇam iti prājāpatyukteḥ / … yady api rāja-padam jāti-vāci / rājñā sabhāsadaḥ kāryāḥ ityādi bahuṣu vacaneṣu kevala-rāja-sravanam ca / tathāpi tatra rājapadam abhisikta-Kṣatriya-paraṁ - tad adhikārāt /, Dinakaroddyota, folios 7a—8].[24]”