Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c13.34

c13.34

Among the duties of the king, one of the most important was the protection of saints and ascetics. To them the King has always to be accessible. For their sake Daśaratha parted with his young boys Rāma and Lakṣamaṇa, who braved all the dangers from forests, brutes and demons to save the ascetic sacrifices from pollution. Raghu reduced himself to poverty by his generosity to Brāhmaṇas and others. Kālidāsa delights in painting the majesty and bounty of royalty but he would not like a king to stick to worldly pomp to the last. Raghu installed his son Aja as heir-apparent and associated him in the task of administration. The prince became half the king as the poet puts it. Some time later, Raghu retired from the world altogether into the forest, and Aja assumed all the insignia of sovereignty. This custom really averted civil wars of the type that contributed so much to the ruin of the Mughal Empire. Here was not much room for the quarrel of father against son, of brother against brother.¹