Hindu Administrative Institutions c7.s5.1

c7.s5.1

We have seen that the ordinary *abhiṣecanīya* consisted of two aspects—the one sprinkling of waters by the various estates of the state who were so many representatives of the people at large (*ratnins*), and the second the theological anointing by the *purohita*. But the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* describes a *mahābhiṣeka* which resembles in several details the *abhiṣecanīya* of the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*. There, we are given, in the first place the *mahābhiṣeka* of Indra done by the gods with Prajāpati as he was the mightiest, the most powerful and strongest, the most real, the best of the accomplished among them. He then mounted the throne of *Ṛc*. . . . But for him to display his prowess, the gods said, he must be proclaimed. The proclamation was as follows:—