Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c15.s1.10

c15.s1.10

In Edict IV we have the following account of the prevailing state of society: "for a long period past, even for many hundred years, have increased the sacrificial slaughter of living creatures, the killing of animate beings, unseemly behaviour to relatives, unseemly behaviour to Brāhmaṇas and ascetics (*Śramaṇas*)."¹ Kings used to go out on so-called *Vihāra yātrās*² in which hunting and other similar amusements used to be practised.³ The people performed various ceremonies (*maṁgala*)⁴ on occasions of sickness, weddings of sons,⁵ the weddings of daughters, the birth of children, and