Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t2.345

c4.t2.345

All these instances⁴ would be sufficient to show that the kings, no matter how and to what extent they indulged in personal pleasures and splendour, did, sometimes, come into close contact with the people and, with their frank and intimate behaviour, succeeded in winning their hearts. The crowd that gathers at these royal gatherings has no distinction whatever of caste or creed or class. Everything there is perfectly democratic. These gatherings seem to have had remarkable influence in contributing their quota to our cultural evolution. Our literary traditions show how kings of those times were great patrons of the arts and literature. The Jātaka kings are no exceptions. They get their education at Takkasilā. They travel far and wide receiving practical experience and a “direct knowledge of the glories and achievements of other countries.” They must try to emulate them. They did. Learned Paṇḍits came to the king with poetical pieces (gāthās) and he rewarded them.⁵ Sometimes he himself tried his hand at a verse ‘so beautiful and appealing, that within a short time the whole people will take it up and commit it to memory”.⁶