Hindu Administrative Institutions c7.s2.t2.35

c7.s2.t2.35

These demonstrate the fact that the office of the king was a creation of the people and the king held the throne conditionally, that is, under definite terms. Any violation of these agreed terms would lead to the banishment or deposition of the ruler. But this principle of election did not negative that of hereditary right. This was not interfered with except in extreme circumstances. The eldest son of king Nahuṣa turning an ascetic, his next brother Yayāti became the king. Dhṛtarāṣṭra being blind, Pāṇḍu his junior became the king. Bharata was installed the crown prince though Rāma was the eldest. Devāpi who suffered from skin disease was declared by the people as unfit to succeed as king, though his father the Kuru King Pratīpa wished for it. His second son Bāhlika having been adopted by maternal uncle, became also unfit to be the legal heir. Hence the third