Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s1.26

c8.s1.26

explains how a prince ought to behave towards the king and his subjects.¹ The prince was generally under the control of the sovereign, and if he would prove useful he must be advanced gradually to occupy the throne seat. But there may be cases where the prince would behave lawfully and still would be an eye-sore to his father. In such cases it is laid down that the prince could extricate himself to some place beyond the power of his father's sovereignty. One such was to take to forest life.² Rāma's going to the forest is justified by the handmaid of Kaikeyī, the queen, representing that Rāma was a diplomat attributing a motive to which he was alien.³ In much later days we find Shah Jahan's preparedness to go to Mecca against the ill-treatment of Jahangir and Nur Jahan.