Hindu Administrative Institutions c7.s2.2

c7.s2.2

To begin with, the divine origin of kings was a common notion among the ancient peoples of the world. In a long chapter on the ‘Evolution of kingship’, Dr. Narendranāth Law² critically reviews this subject especially on the basis of Sir James Frazer’s *Golden Bough*, and comes to the conclusion that there had been an age of magic before religion evolved and that the evolution of the latter was due to the growing inefficacy of magic. The belief was that in all Aryan countries the kings possessed magical or supernatural powers by which they could confer material benefit on their subjects. Frazer refers among others to the verse of Manu³ in speaking of the supernatural powers of the ancient Hindu kings. Manu⁴ says that even a baby king should not be disregarded under the impression that he is an ordinary mortal. He is a deity though human in form. Thus there is the one theory that kingship grew out of magic.