The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s14.9

v2.c30.s14.9

The rite is full of magic and symbolism: its nature is obvious and has innumerable parallels: it is worth noting that the king is expected to rub in the substance of the anointing mixture with the horn of a black antelope: it is thus clear that the holy strength is actually in the mixture, and must be made to impregnate the system; the keeping of the long hair, like the Frankish kings, is to preserve for a time this holiness. The position and prominence of the game of dice² are interesting: it is possible to see in it a connexion with the foretelling of prosperity, but it must have been made the more natural in that the king was interested, we may believe even at this period, in the revenue to be derived from dicing, which was carried on in the Sabhā, ‘house of assembly’, and which in later times was assuredly a valuable monopoly, and probably so in earlier days.