Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c34.21

c34.21

Actual election at times did take place even in post-Vedic times. Megasthenes notes that after Svayambhū, Budha and Kratu, the succession was generally hereditary but that *'when a failure of heirs occurred in the royal house, the 'Indians elected their sovereign on the principle of merit'.*¹ The Jātakas² have stories of election of kings and even the fables³ of the country made animals elect their king. They indicate that the theory of elective kingship was a national theory widely current. Let us now take the sacred hymns of royal election of the Vedas and the Vedic kingship.