India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.6

c12.s1.6

*RĀJAKṚITVĀ* (III.2.95)—This was another important term of political vocabulary mentioned by Pāṇini in *sūtra Rājani yudhi kṛiñaḥ* (III.2.95), signifying the institution of *rājānaṁ kṛitavān* 'one who is a king-maker'. In the Vedic period the *Ratnins* or High State Functionaries are spoken of as *rājakṛits*, 'king-makers' (*Atharva*, III.5.6-7). This political epithet continued up to the Buddhist period: "The Pali canon employs 'king-maker' as a synonym for ministers (*rājakattāro*, *Dīghanikāya*, Mahāgovinda Suttanta). The *Rāmāyaṇa* in describing the ministers who put their resolution before Bharata, calls them 'king-makers' (Ayodhyākāṇḍa, 79.1, *sametya rājakartāro Bharataṁ vākyam-abruvan; Comm. rājakartāraḥ=mantriṇaḥ, Hindu Polity*, II.116).