The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c6.67

c6.67

Even in the earliest hymns of the Ṛigveda, the king is surrounded by pomp and majesty. A hymn in the second Maṇḍala refers to Mitra and Varuṇa as kings and pictures them seated in their supremest home, the thousand-pillared, firmly based.⁹ Again, in the seventh Maṇḍala, “O Varuṇa, thou glorious lord, I entered thy lofty home, thine house with thousand portals.”¹⁰ It appears that the king lived in a mansion as splendid as the arts of the times could rear. In the slightly later collections of hymns, Râjans are spoken