| Abstrakt: |
The article presents information on state formation in early India. Theories on the earliest formation of states in India remain generally rather simplistic. There is none of the richness of concepts, which has entered the discussion of state formation in Africa or Meso-America. This poverty of theory derives, in part, from an abiding obsession with one image of the early Indian state, that of oriental despotism. In the light of more recent research, both these theories are subject to substantial qualification. The analysis of these early forms is particularly relevant in the Indian context, since the process of state formation was a continuing process in the sub-continent throughout the centuries, with the new areas being brought into state systems. it has been said that there was a pathological fear of anarchy in India, defined as the absence of a king or a state, it can be equally well argued that it was not the fear of anarchy but the justification for this continual process of state formation which was being emphasized in the sources. |
