The Virtue Of Law In The Epic Ramyana

Interestingly, the king’s coronation oath from the Mahabharata which gives body to the idea that law existed prior to the king spells out the restrictions on state or the king.It says, "Whatever law there is here and whatever is dictated by ethics and whatever is not opposed to politics I will act according to unhesitatingly. And I will never be arbitrary "41
This shows that king himself had to revere the dharma laws. The epic Ramyana talks of the virtues of judicial administrators of which king himself was to be a part. It reads that an administrator "should set his heart on protecting the people. An administrator who carefully protects all the inhabitants of his dominion like his own life and like his own son endureth for ever and attains the region of Brahma42 Also, "The administrator that carrieth away his royal affairs agreeable to justice, hath not to repent afterwards"43

He considers his instruction supreme for his administrators, who he feel have been appointed for the purpose of securing welfare of people over thousands of other people. He exhorts their status as representatives of state as well as people and reminds them that just as he, the monarch is the patriarch of all his subjects, the officers should pertain as agents to secure the happiness of the subjects, with in this world and the next citing an instance he says, a person may be falsely convicted and on these grounds may be tortured or imprisoned, the officers ought to take an impartial stance in justice and see that no person is grieved wrongly and welfare is enforced generally. And after giving such detailed instruction, he says the rewards for following such instructions in imparting impartial justice would lead him to heaven, the ultimate bliss in the Indian conception and also enable him to repay his debt to the king who gave them an opportunity to serve the