NCERT Solutions for Class 9th Social Science Chapter 5 Duties and Ideals of the King — THINK ABOUT IT

Because in an agrarian state, protection and justice were not favours the king granted — they were the reason the state existed at all, and the condition of its own survival.

Four reasons, each supported by the chapter:

1. No safety, no agriculture; no agriculture, no revenue. The king was primarily responsible for protecting his subjects from external threats and internal disorder. A cultivator will not clear forest, sow and wait months for a harvest if the crop can be seized. The chapter says facilitation of agriculture continued to be a major preoccupation of the state because it was one of the major sources of revenue — the basic land tax being generally one-sixth of the produce.
2. No safety on the roads, no trade. The state ensured the safety of trade routes and took measures to prevent the adulteration of goods and to protect consumers from unfair practices. Trade produced customs revenue and the goods the state itself needed.
3. Justice was the king's own duty, not an office he could delegate away. He was expected to administer justice in cases such as abduction, robbery, theft and adultery. The Yajurveda's coronation oath advises the king to judge the strong and the weak impartially and fairly — which matters most for the weak, since the strong can protect themselves.
4. Legitimacy. The Śhānti Parva of the Mahābhārata gives rulers guidance on ethical conduct, justice, and the responsibilities of a king towards his subjects. Where kingship is judged against a standard, failing the standard has consequences: the chapter records that there are references to kings being elected or even expelled.

They tell us that governance was understood as a relationship of duty, not of ownership. The king was answerable to a standard outside himself, and the standard was dharma.

Three things the descriptions reveal:

• Power came with obligations attached. Every source the chapter cites states duties, never unlimited rights — the Yajurveda oath (judge impartially, protect the country from calamities, do good to the people), the Śhānti Parva (ethical conduct, justice, responsibility towards subjects), and the Arthaśhāstra (personal energy in office). Later texts continue it: Kāmandaka's Nītisāra and Bāṇabhaṭṭa's Kādambarī — widely celebrated as one of the world's first novels — contain reflections and advice on kingship and governance.
• Authority was shared and layered. The Arthaśhāstra says “one wheel does not move the carriage”. The king governed through a mantri-pariṣhad, and the state itself was conceived as an organic whole of seven constituents (Saptāṁga), of which the king is only the first. The state functions effectively only if all seven remain properly integrated.
• Succession was not wholly fixed. Kingship was generally hereditary, but there are references to kings being elected or even expelled — which, as the chapter says, suggests that royal authority was not always absolute.