Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c37.83

c37.83

of the hereditary principle, however, is discernible. According to the opinion of one school, if the coronation was desired for the l i f e-t i m e of the king-elect, only the first syllable of the *Vyāhriti*—‘Bhūḥ’ भूः, was to be pronounced, if it was for t w o g e n e r a t i o n s, ‘bhūrbhuvaḥ’ (भूर्भुवः) and if for t h r e e g e n e r a t i o n s, ‘bhūrbhuvaḥ’ Svaḥ (भूर्भुवः स्वः) the complete formula was to be repeated.¹ This was the opinion of one school of ritualists as indicated in the Aitareya Br. A historical reference to this theory is found in the inscription of Khāravela where coronation for one generation is mentioned,² which naturally implies that coronation for generations more than one was possible. The tendency to hereditary kingship is corroborated further by the occurrence of *rājānaṃ rāja-pita-raṃ* (‘king and father of a king’) in the Aitareya Br. VIII. 12, while no such adjective to republican *Svarāj* or *Virāj* is added. But the rituals as originally designed were for each generation, and the one generation consecrated became the rule in practice for all ages to come, even when kingship became hereditary.