Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c43.11

c43.11

§ 294. They never lost their Vedic prestige even in the most powerful days of the Hindu monarch. They had been *rājakṛits* or 'k i n g-m a k e r s' and 'k i n g s' (rulers) under popular constitution and they remained 'king-makers' and 'kings' in the Pāli Sūtras, and in the national epic. The Pāli Canon employs 'king-makers' as a synonym for ministers.⁴ The Rāmāyaṇa⁵ in describing the ministers who put their resolution before Bharata, calls them 'king-makers.' In the Prātimoksha Sūtra the High Ministers were called 'kings.'⁶ Aśoka calls his High Ministers 'reins-holders' [of the state] *i.e.* 'ruling ministers.'⁷