Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c38.46

c38.46

§ 240. Nations of antiquity and nations of our own times have devised Coronation Oaths for their kings. But none more forcibly brings to the notice of the new king the all-powerful, the all-sacred position of the Country he is going to rule. To offend against that country was to offend against God Himself. Having once uttered this oath it was impossible to forget it. If a Hindu monarch failed to keep his coronation oath he would be a-satya-pratijña (असत्यप्रतिज्ञ) and a-satya-sandha (असत्यसन्ध), ‘false in his vow,’ and he