Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government c2.s1.3

c2.s1.3

We must premise that Mitrāvaruṇau, and likewise Indrāgnī or Indrābṛhaspatī, are syzygies or progenitive pairs (*mithunāni*): Mitra, Agni and Bṛhaspati being on the one hand the divine archetypes of the Sacerdotium or Spiritual authority (*brahma*) and Varuṇa and Indra those of the Regnum (*kṣatra*). We shall, for the most part, make use of the Brāhmaṇas, but it must not be overlooked that the institutions therein more fully described and explained are often referred to in the Ṛgveda. Thus in RV. X. 52. 5 “Into thy hands, O Indra, I (Agni) commit the bolt,” cf. RV. II. 11. 4 “We have laid the bolt in thy hands”³—corresponding to the *Accipe sceptrum* of Western rites—is the making of the King *in divinis*. The relation of authorizing Mind or Reason (*kratu*) to the efficient Power (*dakṣa*), that of the inner to the outer man, is explicit in RV. VIII. 13. 1, “Indra, at the Soma pressings, cleanses (*punī́te*, Sāyaṇa *śodhayati* = καθαρεῖται, cf. MU. VI. 34. 5 f.) the enunciative Counsel (*krátum . . . ukthyàm*); the Mighty wins increase of Power (*vidé vṛdhásya dákṣasaḥ*)”; cf. RV. X. 31. 2 and ŚB. IV. 4. 4. 1 discussed below. In RV. X. 124. 4 Agni, the Sacrificial Priest (*agnír brahmā́ . . . vidhartā́*, RV. VII. 7. 5), is described as “choosing” (*vṛṇānáḥ*) Indra: it is interesting to observe that already the Commons play a part in this election (*vī́śo ná rā́jānaṁ vṛṇānā́ḥ*, *ib.* 8, cf. AV. III. 4. 2). The “marriage” of the Purohita (Saptagu, Bṛhaspati) to the King is referred to in RV. X. 47. 1 “We have taken thee by the right hand,” spoken reproachfully with reference to Indra’s arrogance and breach of the loyalty demanded by the marital relation of the Regnum to the Sacerdotium; as in BD. VII. 54 f. That the Purohita, as the designation itself implies, takes precedence of the King is explicit in RV. IV. 50. 7-9, “To him the people of themselves pay homage, in whose realm the Brahmā goeth first” (*pū́rva éti*), quoted in AB. VIII. 27.⁴ The feudal relationship of the Regnum to the Sacerdotium is explicit in Agni's words addressed to Indra, "I in person go before thee . . . and if thou givest me my share (or due), then shalt thou through