Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.156

c7.156

In such a political community where the people reserved for themselves the supreme right to delegate the leadership of the tribe to a suitable candidate, they would also have looked for the quality of oratory in their prospective ruler. Furthermore, the great love of the Vedic people for chariot-racing³ and dice contests⁴ indicates that skill in such contests may also have been a factor in being chosen for the kingship. This is supported by many later legends which look back to the period and it is probably this which later led to the formal prescription of dicing and racing during the *rājasūya* ceremony of a hereditary king.⁵