Hindu Polity (A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times)

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Kashi Prasad Jayaswal (27 November 1881 - 4 August 1937) was an Indian historian and lawyer One of the intellectual forces behind the Indian nationalist movement, Jayaswal's works 'Hindu Polity' (1918) and 'History of India, 150 A.D. to 350 A.D. (1933) are classics of ancient Indian historical literature. Among other things, Jayaswal is credited with showing that Indian republics, based on the principles of representation and collective decision-making, were among the oldest and most powerful of the ancient world.

'HINDU POLITY,' in two volumes (Parts)-the first on Vedic Assemblies and Republics, the second on Monarchy and Imperial Systems is a sketch of the constitutional life of Subject and Difficulty the Hindus. The subject is great but its treatment has to be modest. The works of pureasüris had long been hidden; the path opened by them had long been lost. It had to be researched. In 1911-13 a probable line was laid to dig and discover the Ancients' highway in the field of Polity. In these pages that line has been deepened and widened. And the way of the Fathers is in sight.

The author made a special study to find out what constitutional Pioneer Work progress, if any, Ancient Indians had achieved. In 1911 and 1912 some results of the study were published in the legal journal the Calcutta Weekly Notes and the Calcutta monthly the Modern Review. A connected paper was read to the Hindi Literary Conference in 1912 and its translation published in the Modern Review, 1913, under the title, An Introduction to Hindu Polity'.

Before the publication of the Introduction there had been no work in any modern language on the subject. The Introduction fulfilled its purpose. Today the subject finds place in University teaching. And the author has had the satisfaction of seeing his results quoted and reiterated, with or without acknowledgement, almost every year; the subject has become popular; the truth has been recognized, accepted and adopted: it has rightly ceased to be his.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages