Corruption In Ancient India

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About the Book:

The present book portrays a very poignant and sensitive story, on the basis of a wide range of literary and archaeological material's of some aspects of corruption in ancient India. The story unfolds the gradual evolution and growth of this social monster which is haunting the minds of politicians as well as intelligentsia of the present day. It attempts to relate systems of thought to states of the collective conscience involved in the currents of egoism, altruism and anomy. But, in addition to its historical and methodological import, Corruption in Ancient India is of abiding significance because of the problem it treats and the sociological approach with it is handled. Efforts have been made to seek to establish what looks like a collective phenomenon through the social structure and its ramifying functions.

Divided in five chapters, the book introduces the topic together with a comparative study of the age-old evil in the ancient world. Chapter II deals with widespread corruption in the fields of public life including general administration. The chapter on judiciary offers a glimpse into the working of judicial administration in early days with all its virtues and vices and shows without doubt that all was not well in the State of Denmark, and despite its loftiest ideas and noblest pretensions justice was very often vitiated owing to the unscrupulous behaviour and dishonest nature of the judges. The chapter dealing with trade and commerce reveals the greedy and selfish nature of the wily traders and merchants since time immemorial who, in the words of Kalhana, could "take one's life in a moment, just as a dangerous scorpion would, which is marked in six places". The last chapter portrays and picture that emerges from various allusions relating to the state of general insecurity, and the unreliability of the king's men to whom corruption seemed natural and reasonable as in modern times.

About the Author:

Dr Upendra Thakur began his career as a College teacher in 1956 and is now working as University Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian and Asian Studies in the University of Mangadh, Bodh Gaya (Bihar). He received higher education in the University of Calcutta and did his D.Phil. thesis. He also served as Research Fellow in the Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit learning, Darbhanga, for tow years and as Lecturer in the Universities of Gorakhpur and Patna for more than seven years. In 1969 he visited Yugoslvia under Indo-Yugoslav Cultural Exchange Programme of the Government of India to deliver a series of lectures on different aspects of Indian history in the University of Zagreb and other universities of the country. He also visited Moscow, Cairo, Austria, Germany, Rome and other countries of Europe. He went to South-East Asia on a Lecture-tour in the month of October 1972 for two months.

In August 1977, Dr. Thakur again visited Thailand to participate in the Seventh Conference of International Association of Historians of Asia held in Bangkok from 22 August to 26 August 1977 as an invitee scholar. He also presented an illuminating paper on "Elements of Hindu Culture in Laos".

In November 1977 Dr. Thakur was awarded Akbar Silver Medal by the Numismatic Society of India for his outstanding contributions to numismatic studies, and was elected President of Section IV ("Countries other than India") of the Indian History Congress for 1978. He is also Chief Editor of the Journal of the Bihar Research Society (JBRS), Patna.

Dr. Thakur has published several books and more than sixty-five research paper, including History of Mithila, History of Suicide in India, Studies in Jainism and Buddhism in Mithila, The Hunas in India, Mints and Minting in India, some Aspects of Indian History and Culture and Homicide in India (in English) and Mughal Kalina Bharata and Adhunika Bharata Ka ltihasa (in Hindi).