Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t2.78

c4.t2.78

It goes on all well if the prince is the only son of his father. Nothing unusual happens and the prince, without any hindrance, marries, becomes the Viceroy and, after his father’s death, ascends to the throne.⁹ But in many cases he has at least one brother, if not more, who turns out to be a stumbling block in the way of his succession to the throne, and suddenly on the death of the aged father there is an outburst of jealousies, which soon develops into a bitter fratricidal war.¹ In the ordinary course of affairs, the elder of the two brothers becomes *Uparāja* on the completion of his education and the younger is given the post of Commander-in-chief (*senāpati*). And, if nothing untoward happens, when the father dies, the elder ascends to the throne as a king and the younger is appointed as *Uparāja*.² In the event of a king having more than two sons, the usual practice followed was perhaps this, that they married and settled down and either lived as the king's companions³ or the king gave them each a province and let them go.⁴