State and Government in Ancient India c15.17

c15.17

The status of the *ratnins* was fairly high; at the time of the Vājapeya sacrifice, the king had to repair to their houses and not they to his palace in order to offer the so-called *ratnin* oblations. They are in one place expressly described as bestowes of kingdom upon the king.¹ *Samiti* in the Vedic age was a powerful body, and it is not unlikely that the *ratnins* might have been selected from among its members; but we have no positive evidence to support this probable conjecture. Nor do we know how they functioned; whether they met as a council to advise the king or whether the latter consulted them in their individual capacity.