State and Government in Ancient India c10.s2.8

c10.s2.8

The above evidence shows that down to the end of the Brāhmaṇa period (*c.* 1000 B. C.) the priests tried to extend their sway over the monarch and through him over the state. It is natural that many kings, should have opposed this tendency ; the bitter curses that are pronounced against the rulers who confiscate the cows, *i.e.* the wealth of the Brāhmaṇa⁶, seem to be directed against those monarchs who were opposing the efforts of the priests to forge a theocratic state, where their voice was to reign supreme. Unfortunately we have no detailed information about any specific and individual cases, as we have in the case of early medieval Europe.