Hindu Administrative Institutions c7.s2.t2.42

c7.s2.t2.42

Professor Hopkins holds that physical defects were no serious bar to succession to the throne. We cannot follow the learned scholar. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s ruling the country for a short time after Pāṇḍu’s death, and Bharata’s being installed as the crown prince temporarily were inevitable, having been the result of causes beyond human control. As temporary measures people acquiesced in these arrangements. These would undoubtedly have met with vehement opposition from the public if these had been permanent measures.⁴