The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c9.s10.3

c9.s10.3

The import of the story of the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* (II, 2, 10, 1-2)³⁶ should be properly understood. There Indra is a god and therefore he is naturally made a king by Prajāpati, the chief of gods. But the case of Indra's elevation to kingship by "divine sanction," should such an expression be used, cannot be taken to be normal for the kings of *men* in Vedic literature. Kingship in the Vedic texts is as a rule human and secular. In the case of Indra, again, it is not "divine sanction" but the sanction by *the head of his race* that we find in the story. The main noticeable feature in it is the absence of election by Indra's peers, i.e., the gods.