Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c38.41

c38.41

§ 239. Such is a pseudo-historical theory devised to explain the Hindu Coronation Oaths by political writers. The germs of the theory go back to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa³ which says that Pṛithu Vainya was the first anointed king of the Hindus. The theory implies that the Oath originated with kingship, that it was as old as kingship itself. An analysis of the oaths discloses the following position of the Hindu king.