Socio Political Structure in Ancient India

A Critical Examination of the Socio-Political Structure in Ancient India

Abstract

There are different, or we can say divergent views regarding the history of state and political ideas in ancient India. Different schools of thought have interpreted it differently. The first historians to write the political and social history of ancient India were imperialist administrators like James Mill and V.A. Smith. They wrote the history of India to serve the interest of British imperialism. James Mill divided Indian history into three periods— The Hindu Period, Muslim Period and British Period. Mill postulated that contemporary as well as ancient India was barbarous and anti-rational. Indian civilisation according to him showed no concern for political values and India had been ruled by a series of despots. Stagnant since its inception, Indian society was inimical to progress. Mill’s History of India was one of the prescribed texts at the institutions like Haileybury College where English officers received their training before coming to India.