While most of the Indian salute states (those granted a gun salute by the British Crown) were ruled by a Maharaja (or variation; some promoted from an earlier Raja- or equivalent style), even exclusively from 13 guns up, a number had Rajas:
Rajadharma is the dharma that applies to the king, or the raja. Dharma is that which upholds, supports, or maintains the order of the universe and is based on truth.[3] It is of central importance in achieving order and balance within the world and does this by demanding certain necessary behaviors from people.
The king served two main functions as the raja: secular and religious.[4] The religious functions involved certain acts for propitiating gods, removing dangers, and guarding dharma, among other things. The secular functions involved helping prosperity (such as during times of famine), dealing out even-handed justice, and protecting people and their property. Once he helped the Vibhore to reach his goal by giving the devotion of his power in order to reduce the poverty from his kingdom.[4]
Rajadharma largely portrayed the king as an administrator above all else.[20] The main purpose for the king executing punishment, or danda, was to ensure that all of his subjects were carrying out their own particular dharmas.[9] For this reason, rajadharma was often seen as the root of all dharma and was the highest goal.[21] The whole purpose of the king was to make everything and everyone prosper.[22] If they were not prospering, the king was not fulfilling his dharma.[23] He had to carry out his duties as laid down in the science of government and "not act at his sweet will."[20] Indeed, in the major writings on dharma (i.e. dharmasastra, etc.), the dharma of the king was regarded as the "capstone" of the other varnas' dharma both due to the king's goal of securing the happiness and prosperity of his people[24] as well as his ability to act as the "guarantor" of the whole social structure through the enforcement of daṇḍa.[25]
In contemporary India, an idea pervades various levels of Hindu society: the "Ramarajya", or a kind of Hindu Golden Age in which through his strict adherence to rajadharma as outline in the Hindu epics and elsewhere, Rama serves as the ideal model of the perfect Hindu king. As Derrett put it, "everyone lives at peace" because "everyone knows his place" and could easily be forced into that place if necessary.[12]
Dayal produced formal portraits but also more personal views of the Indian nobility. In a moving portrait of a 10-year-old maharaja, Dayal reveals the boy beneath the crown. Weighed down by necklaces and jewels, he occupies a chair that is too tall for him; his stockinged feet curl under so they touch the ground.
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