Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c38.2

c38.2

§ 236. In later times all the constitutional principles upon which the ritualistic coronation was based we find being acted upon, with modifications in details to suit changed and changing circumstances. According to the Mahā-Bhārata, Yudhishṭhira ‘worshipped’ his Ministers before his coronation.¹ Here ministers stand for the Vedic Ratnins. At the proposed coronation of Rāma as King-assistant (*Yuvarāja*)—as described in the Rāmāyaṇa,² according to the practice and ideas current in the days of its composition³—we find the Jānapada and the Pauras present in place of the Grāmaṇī and Sajātas and the guild of merchants and traders in place of the Vedic ‘rathakāras’ and ‘karmāras.’ In the Mahā-Bhārata at the royal coronation of Yudhishṭhira we see the Brahmins, the owners of the land, the Vaiśyas and all the respectable