The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c23.62

c23.62

An ancient Chinese writer assures us that 'according to the laws of India, when a king dies, he is succeeded by his eldest son (*Kumārarāja*); the other sons leave the family and enter a religious life, and they are no longer allowed to reside in their native kingdom'.² This compulsory withdrawal from secular affairs did not necessarily imply the disappearance of the younger brother into obscurity. The church in India, especially Buddhist India, as in Roman Catholic Europe, offered a career to younger sons, and the able ecclesiastic sometimes attained higher fame than his royal relative. Mahendra's assumption of the yellow robe, in accordance with the rule above stated, was, in the first instance, probably due to political necessity rather than to free choice; but, whatever motive may have led him to adopt the monastic life, he became a devout and zealous monk and a most successful missionary.