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Chakravarti (Sanskrit term)

Ancient Indian term

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The word cakra-vartin- is a bahuvrīhi compound word, translating to "one who moves the wheels", in the sense of "whose chariot is rolling everywhere without obstruction". It can also be analysed as an instrumental tatpuruṣa: "through whom the wheel is moving" in the meaning of "through whom the Dharmachakra ("Wheel of the Dharma) is turning" (most commonly used in Buddhism). The Tibetan equivalent ཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ (khor los sgyur ba'i rgyal po) translates to "monarch who controls by means of a wheel".

In Buddhism, a chakravarti is the secular counterpart of a buddha. The term applies to temporal as well as spiritual emperorship and leadership, particularly in Buddhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, a chakravarti is a powerful ruler whose dominion extends to the entire earth. In both religions, the chakravarti is supposed to uphold dharma, indeed being "he who turns the wheel (of dharma)".

The Indian concept of chakravarti later evolved into the concept of devaraja – the divinity of kings – which was adopted by the Indianised Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Southeast Asia through Hindu Brahmin scholars deployed from India to their courts. It was first adopted by Javanese Hindu-Buddhist empires such as Majapahit; through them by the Khmer Empire; and subsequently by the Thai monarchs.

Hinduism

According to the traditions "Vishnu, in the form of Chakra, was held as the ideal of worship for Kings desirous of obtaining Universal Sovereignty", a concept associated with the Bhagavata Puranas, a religious sanction traceable to the Gupta period, which also led to the chakravartin concept. There are relatively few examples of chakravartins in both northern and southern India.

Bharata, the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, was conferred the title of cakravartin samrāj, according to some legends. Another emperor of the same name, who was the son of Rishabha, was also given the title cakravartin.

In Southern India, the Pallava period beginning with Simhavishnu (575–900 CE) was a transitional stage in southern Indian society with monument building, establishment of Bhakti sects of Alvars and Nayanars, flowering of rural Brahmanical institutions of Sanskrit learning, and the establishment of Chakravartin model of emperorship over a territory of diverse people; which ended the pre-Pallavan era of territorially segmented people, each with their culture, under a tribal chieftain. The Pallava period extolled ranked relationships based on ritual purity as enjoined by the shastras. Burton distinguishes between the Chakravatin model and the Kshatriya model, and likens kshatriyas to locally based warriors with ritual status sufficiently high enough to share with Brahmins; and states that in south India the kshatriya model did not emerge. As per Burton, South India was aware of the Indo-Aryan Varna organized society in which decisive secular authority was vested in the Kshatriyas; but apart from the Pallava, Chola and Vijayanagar line of warriors which claimed Chakravartin status, only few locality warrior families achieved the prestigious kin-linked organization of northern warrior groups.

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