Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t2.143

c4.t2.143

There is also a real instance where the throne is handed over to a woman. On the death of king Udaya no king was set up, but the commands of his wife. Udayabhaddā were promulgated and the ministers carried on the administration of the kingdom.⁷ In another story,⁸ a brother gives his own share of the kingdom to his sister, but it is not clear whether the latter was duly crowned. We learn from another story⁹ that when the throne of Benares was left vacant by the king turning a hermit, the people gathered before the palace door and requested the queen to undertake royal duties. All these may be exceptions, but they at least show that women also sometimes took the reins of government in their hands.