A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c7.46.4

c7.46.4

This system, therefore, must have been thoroughly established by the close of the present period. The Brāhmaṇas, indeed, contain sufficient hints pointing to the king's exercise of judicial functions. Thus the Śat. Br., in the course of its dogmatic exposition of the Rājasūya sacrifice, mentions a rite as having the effect of guiding the king safely over judicial punishment, whence he becomes exempt from punishment.∗ The introduction of this special ceremony in the king's case would seem to imply that all his subjects were amenable to his jurisdiction. Further, the Śat. Br. describes another rite of the Rājasūya as having the result of making the king lord of the law, and it declares in this connection that the supreme state (paramatā),—which is one of the Vedic designations of sovereignty,—is that in which the people approach the king in matters of law.† This passage, again would appear to hint at the king's sovereign jurisdiction over his subjects.