There is no denying the fact that in the days of the yore Indian society was well organized and the Indians had developed political theories and social philosophy. In our political and social philosophy religion played a dominant role. Our modern thinkers who were nation builders, were great social scientists. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swamy Vivekananda, Gandhiji, Sri Aurobindo, Manabendra Nath Roy, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Joy Prakash Narayan and hosts of others were illumined thinkers, nations builders and social scientists. For six millennium or so India maintained her culture. Man is a product of his society. The traditional belief is that man is a social and political animal. Hegel believed in Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis. Hegel gave much importance to the nation state. Outside the state, man is an unethical abstraction. This is a western concept. The Indian thinkers and more so the orientalists believed that man is a spiritual being. He is a spark of the divine flame. But due to the influence of Maya or cosmic illusion he is subject to death and decay. Ignorance is the root cause of suffering and weakness. Man wants society, peace and security. The kings, the rulers and the administrators must protect the citizen from the hostile forces, invading enemies, marauders and from inner contradiction and internal dissension. The main objective of the ruler is to promote good (Lokosangraha). So far our knowledge goes Manu and Koutilya are the pioneers and innovators of political thought in our country. They were original thinkers and visionaries. Of course, in our great epic The Mahabharata we find the political ideas of Lord Krishna and Bhisma. All those ideas were there in an embryonic form.
Kautilya's Arthasashtra and Manusmriti are two monumental and epoch making works. Both Manu and Kautilya valued the importance of state. They thought that politics is a state craft. They also acknowledged the importance of kings. Monarchs were given immense power to rule but they were not supposed to abrogate or misuse power. Power has corrupting influence. There were assemblies of ministers and courtiers. The monarchs were to follow democratic principle and social norms. It was incumbent upon them. Autocratic kings or despotic rulers were to be dethroned. The assemblies had that power.
Indian political thought has been recognized as compulsory item in the undergraduate and post graduate syllabus in Indian Universities. The present book is an attempt to study the political ideas of sixteen representatives thinkers whom we consider as quite original in their thinking and who have made valuable contribution to Indian political thought. The book is meant for undergraduate and post graduate students of Political Science, History and Sociology of Indian Universities. It is also meant for common readers. It covers the whole gamut and entire range of over a millennium or so. During this long period of national history different ideas and thought currents influenced our best mind who tried to organize our society on democratic principles, and maintained social stability. The book gives an absorbing and critical study and faithful account of social and political thinkers who created land marks in the field of politics and sociology. They have very critically and systematically studied the socio political conditions and scenario which helped us in reorganizing our nation state. Their monumental ideas have influenced our national leaders who tried to make our country not a theocratic state but an egalitarian and a secular state. In short, the book is a study of Indian political thought in the historical perspective. There are many Marxist and Non-marxist thinkers whom we have not included for fear of elaboration. We have also tried to specify our subject to some selected concepts.
The authors express deep sense of gratitude to KP Bagchi and Company for bringing out the present volume. They generously extended all sorts of cooperation. We are highly indebted to Prof. Himangshu Ghosh, Registrar Vidyassagar University and Prof. Abhijit Mitra, former Head of the Department of Sociology (Burdwan University) for valuable comments and suggestion from time to time.
Hindu (935)
Agriculture (118)
Ancient (1085)
Archaeology (754)
Architecture (563)
Art & Culture (910)
Biography (702)
Buddhist (544)
Cookery (167)
Emperor & Queen (565)
Islam (242)
Jainism (307)
Literary (896)
Mahatma Gandhi (372)
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