The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c10.49

c10.49

once an incorrect judgment, but the prince, incapable of distinguishing between the two, only bit his lips both times. "This man," said the Bodhisatta, "does not know right from wrong, or good from bad; beyond the biting of his lips he knows nothing." So the ministers consecrated the Bodhisatta himself, a Brāhmaṇa, to the kingship. In such cases the ministers are the judges of the capacity to rule and can deal comparatively freely with the crown. In any case acute physical incapacity was regarded a disqualification for the kingship. In spite of protests a king gives his eyes to a Brāhmaṇa and then thinks, "What has a blind man to do with ruling? I will hand over my kingdom to the courtiers, and go into my park and become an ascetic and live as a holy man" (IV, 407 et seq.) Another king struck with leprosy similarly departs into the forest (V, 88). The people in the Jātakas are extremely anxious to make sure of the regular succession When after their earnest prayers to the deities the queen-consort of a childless king gets a son, they exclaim, "We were before helpless, now we have a help, we have obtained a lord" (VI, 1). In another tale when a monogamous king had no son, the townsfolk gathered together in the palace courtyard and raised a howl. "What is it?" asked the king "Fault we have none to find," said they, "but this that you have no son to keep up your line. You have but one queen, yet a royal prince should have 16,000 at the least. Choose a company of women, my lord, some worthy wife will bring you a son." The king, however, refused to flinch from his previous promise of monogamy. Then the queen herself presented to him 1,000 Kṣatriya maidens, 1,000 Mahāmatta maidens, 1,000 gahapati maidens, and 1,000 dancing girls. Later, she presented another host of 12,000 women to the king (IV, 316 et seq.) In another story, all decency, morality and prestige are thrown to the winds in order to obtain a son to succeed to the throne (V, 279 et seq.)