The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c11.4

c11.4

"The king is the head of men" (*râjâ mukhaṃ manussânaṃ*)—this oft-recurring expression in the Pali texts (Sutta Nipâta, p. 107; Mahâvagga VI. 35. 8), the counter-statement in relation to the Brahmanical doctrine, "The Brâhmaṇa is the head of all this" (*Śatapatha Brâhmaṇa* III. 9. 1, 14)—finds, as it were, an illustration in the Jātakas. The fabulous pomp with which we think the royal court of an Oriental despot to be surrounded, covers also here the king. "After his entry into the city"—so the Pañcagaru Jātaka (I. 470) describes the royal entry of a prince—" he went to the spacious hall of the palace and took his seat in godly pomp upon a throne ornamented with precious stones, over which the white umbrella was spread; surrounding him, there stood, adorned with all their ornaments, the ministers, the Brāhmaṇas, the Gahapati etc., and the princesses, whilst sixteen thousand dancing girls skilled in dancing, singing and music, sang and played, so that the palace resounded like an ocean with the roar of which was mixed the noise of thunder.