The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c10.71

c10.71

Every king had a Purohita, who was his adviser in spiritual, and sometimes also, in temporal affairs. The very first king Mahâsammata had appointed a Brâhmaṇa’s son as family-priest (III, 454). Often, though not always, the office was hereditary and continued in the same family for generations (I, 437; II, 47; III, 392, 455, IV, 200). Once some Brâhmaṇas objected to the installation of a young son of the late Purohita. “For seven generations,” protested the mother of the boy, “the performance of elephant consecration (hatthimaṅgala) has been hereditary in our family; the old custom will pass out of our hands and our wealth will disappear” (II, 47; III, 400). Sometimes, of course, new men would be introduced (III, 194, 337). A king of Videha has four sages to instruct him in Dhamma (VI, 330).