Hindu Administrative Institutions c7.s2.18

c7.s2.18

The account of the origin of the king in chapter (lviii) of the *Śānti Parvan* is in keeping with the Vedic tradition found in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*.³ In the latter the very Kṣatriya class (*rājanya*) is described as having a divine origin. The *Bṛhaddharma Purāṇa* mentions that the king assumes not the form of one deity, but the forms of five deities, and therefore, he must be above censure and reproach.⁴ But, according to the *Mahābhārata*, a king becomes a king only after the ceremony of consecration by the subjects.⁵ (The Hindu concep-